FOREST  FLORA  OF  JAPAN 


BT 


CHARLES  SPRAGUE  SARGENT 


LANDSCAPE 
ARCHITECTURE 


Ex 

Libris 

BEATRIX 
JONES 


i 


REEF  POINT  GARDENS 
LIBRARY 


The  Gift  of  Beatrix  Farrand 

to  the  General  Library 
University  of  California,  Berkeley 


CSS 


o 

(-H 

£ 


FOREST  FLORA  OF  JAPAN 


NOTES   ON  THE   FOREST  FLORA  OF  JAPAN 


BY 

CHARLES  SPRAGUE  SARGENT 

DIRECTOR     OF    THE    ARNOLD    ARBORETUM     OF    HARVARD     UNIVERSITY 


BOSTON  AND   NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,    MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 

Dre0g,  CambriDge 

1894 


Copyright,  1894. 
BY  CHARLES   SPRAGUE   SARGENT. 


All  rights  reserved. 


LANDSCAPE 

ARCHITECTURE 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  Muss.,  V.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  and  Company. 


Idd'l 
Farrand  Gift 


••d- 


THE  following  notes,  gathered  in  the  autumn  of  1892,  during  a  journey  through  Hondo 
and  Yezo,  were  first  printed,  with  the  illustrations  that  accompany  them,  in  "  Garden  and 
Forest."  I  am  indebted  to  the  publishers  of  that  journal  for  the  permission  to  reprint  them 

in  this  form. 

C.   S.   SARGENT. 

ARNOLD  ARBORETUM,  May,  1894- 


485 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


Page 

INTRODUCTION 1 

THE  MAGNOLIA  FAMILY 8 

THE  TERNSTRCEMIA,  LINDEN,  AND  KITE  FAMILIES 17 

THE  HOLLY,  EVONYMUS,  AND  BUCKTHORN  FAMILIES 23 

THE  MAPLE  FAMILY 28 

THE  SUMACHS  AND  THE  PEA  FAMILY    .............  33 

THE  ROSE  FAMILY 36 

THE  WITCH-HAZEL  AND  ABALIA  FAMILIES 42 

THE  CORNELS,  HONEYSUCKLES,  AND  PERSIMMONS,  THE  STYRAX  FAMILY,  THE  ARBORESCENT  MEMBERS  OF 

THE  HEATH  FAMILY,  THE  ASHES,  AND  THEIR  ALLIES 47 

THE  LAUREL,  EUPHORBIA,  AND  NETTLE  FAMILIES 54 

THE  WALNUTS,  BIRCHES,  ALDERS,  AND  HORNBEAMS 60 

THE  OAKS,  CHESTNUTS,  WILLOWS,  AND  POPLARS 67 

THE  CONIFERS 72 

THE  CONIFERS,  II 79 

THE  ECONOMIC  ASPECTS  OF  THE  JAPANESE  FORESTS 85 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


1.  CERCIDIPHYLLUM  JAPONICTJM. 

2.  HEMLOCK  FOREST  OF  LAKE  YUMOTO- 

3.  MAGNOLIA  KOBUS. 

4.  MAGNOLIA  SALICIFOLIA. 

5.  MlCHELIA  COMPKESSA. 

6.  CEKCIDIPHYLLUM  JAPONICUM. 

7.  CERCIDIPHYLLTTM  JAPONICUM. 

8.  TILIA  MIQUKLIANA. 

9.  ACER  MIYABKI. 

10.  AOEH  NlKOENSE. 

11.  GLEDITSIA  JAPONICA. 

12.  PRUNUS  MAXIMOWICZII. 

13.  PYRUS  MIYABEI. 

14.  PYRUS  TSCHONOSKII. 

15.  DlSANTHUS  CERCIDIFOLIA. 

16.  ACANTHOPANAX  RICINIFOLIUM. 

17.  LlNDERA  OBTUSILOBA. 

18.  ULMUS  CAMPESTRIS. 

19.  ZELKOVA  KEAKI. 

20.  ALNUS  JAPONICA. 

21.  CARPINUS  CARPIXUS. 

22.  OSTRYA  JAPONICA. 

23.  QUERCUS  DENTATA. 

24.  AVENUE  OF  CRYPTOMERIAS  AT  NIKKO. 

25.  HEMLOCK  FOREST  (TSUGA  DIVERSIFOLIA),  LAKE  YUMOTO. 

26.  LARIX  DAHURICA,  VAR.  JAPONICA. 


FOREST  FLORA  OF  JAPAN. 


INTRODUCTION. 

MANY  years  ago,  in  one  of  the  most  interesting  papers  *  which  has  been  written  on  the  dis- 
tribution of  forests,  Professor  Asa  Gray  drew  some  comparisons  between  the  forests  of  eastern 
North  America  and  those  of  the  Japan-Manchurian  region  of  Asia.  Here  it  was  shown  that, 
rich  as  eastern  America  is  in  tree  species,  Japan,  and  the  regions  to  the  north  of  it,  in  spite 
of  their  comparatively  small  area,  are  still  richer.  Professor  Gray's  Asiatic  region  included  the 
four  principal  Japanese  islands,  eastern  Manchuria,  and  the  adjacent  borders  of  China,  while 
the  contrasted  American  region  embraced  the  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  but 
excluded  the  extreme  southern  point  of  Florida,  inhabited  by  some  sixty  tropical  trees  which 
belong  to  the  West  Indian  rather  than  to  the  true  North  American  flora.  In  the  Japan- 
Manchurian  region  he  found  168  trees  divided  among  sixty-six  genera,  and  in  eastern  America 
155  trees  in  sixty-six  genera,  the  enumeration  in  both  cases  being  confined  "  to  timber-trees, 
or  such  as  attain  in  the  most  favorable  localities  to  a  size  which  gives  them  a  clear  title  to  the 
arboreous  rank."  In  the  Japanese  enumeration  were  included,  however,  a  number  of  trees 
which  are  not  indigenous  to  Japan,  but  which,  as  we  now  know,  were  long  ago  brought  into 
the  empire  from  China  and  Corea,  like  most  of  the  plants  cultivated  by  the  Japanese.  Early 
European  travelers  in  Japan,  like  Thunberg  and  Siebold,  who  were  unable  to  penetrate  far  into 
the  interior,  finding  a  number  of  plants  common  in  cultivation,  naturally  believed  them  to  be 
indigenous,  and  several  Chinese  plants  were  first  described  from  individuals  cultivated  in 
Japanese  gardens.  Later  writers2  on  the  Japanese  flora  have  generally  followed  the  example 
of  the  early  travelers,  and  included  these  plants  in  the  flora  of  Japan.  Indeed,  it  is  only 
very  recently  that  it  has  been  possible  to  travel  freely  in  all  parts  of  the  empire,  and  to  study 
satisfactorily  the  character  and  distribution  of  its  flora. 

The  list  of  Chinese  and  Corean  trees  cultivated  in  Japan,  and  usually  enumerated  in  Floras 
of  the  empire,  includes  Magnolia  conspicua,  Magnolia  parvifolia,  Magnolia  Watsoni,  Sterculia 
platinifolia,  Cedrela  Sinensis,  Zizyphus  vulgaris,  Kcelreuteria  paniculata,  Sapindus  Mukorosi, 
Acer  trifidum,  Rhus  vernicifera,  Sophora  Japonica,3  Prunus  Mume,  Pyrus  Sinensis,  CrataBgus 
cuneata,  Eriobotrya  Japonica,  Liquidambar  Formosana  (Maximowiczii),  Cornus  officinalis, 

1  Forest  Geography  and  Archaeology,  Scientific  Papers,  ii.  through  the  entire  country,  especially  in  the  foliaceous  for- 
204.  ests  of  the  north."     He  had  evidently  confounded  Sophora 

2  See  Franchet  &  Savatier,  Enum.  PI.  Jap.  —  Forbes  &  with  Maackia,  a  common  and  widely  spread  tree,  especially 
Hemsley,  Jour.  Linn.  Soc.,  xxiii.  and  xxvi.  in  Yezo.      Sophora,  which  is  only  seen  occasionally  in  gar- 

8  Even  Rein  (The  Industries  of  Japan),  usually  a  most      dens,  does  not  appear  to  be  a  particularly  popular  plant  with 
careful  observer,  states  that  Sophora  Japonica  is  "  scattered      the  Japanese. 


2  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

Diospyros  Kaki,  and  probably  Diospyros  Lotus,  Chionanthus  retusa,  Paulownia  imperialis, 
Catalpa  ovata,  Linclera  strychnifolia,  Uhnus  parvifolia,  Thuja  orientalis,  Ginkgo  biloba,  Podo- 
carpus  Nageia,  Podocarpus  inacrophylla,  and  Piuus  Koraiensis.  If  these  species,1  twenty-nine 
in  number,  are  deducted  from  Professor  Gray's  enumeration,  there  will  remain  139  species  in 
fifty-three  genera,  or  a  smaller  number  of  both  genera  and  species  than  he  credited  to  eastern 
America.  This,  however,  does  not  alter  the  fact  that  the  Japanese  region  for  its  area  is  unsur- 
passed in  the  number  of  trees  which  inhabit  its  forests. 

Indeed,  the  superiority  of  the  forests  of  Japan  in  the  number  of  their  arborescent  species 
over  those  of  every  other  temperate  region,  eastern  North  America  included,  in  proportion  to 
their  area,  lias  certainly  never  been  fully  stated,  as  perhaps  I  shall  be  able  to  show,  having 
made  two  years  ago  a  somewhat  extended  journey  through  the  northern  and  central  islands, 
undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  studying  Japanese  trees  in  their  relations  to  those  of  North 
America.  The  case,  perhaps,  can  best  be  stated  by  following  Professor  Gray's  method,  and 
making  a  new  census  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Japan-Manchurian  forests  and  of  those  of 
eastern  America,  as  these  two  regions  extend  through  nearly  the  same  degrees  of  latitude,  and 
possess  somewhat  similar  climates,  although  Japan  has  the  advantage  of  a  more  equally 
distributed  rainfall  and  a  more  equable  climate,  and  offers  a  far  more  broken  surface  than 
eastern  America,  with  mountains  twice  the  height  of  any  of  the  Appalachian  peaks. 

As  the  true  Atlantic  forest  extends  west  to  the  eastern  rim  of  the  mid-continental  plateau, 
the  American  region,  for  purposes  of  proper  comparison,  may  be  extended  to  the  western 
limit  of  the  Atlantic  tree-growth,  although  this  will  add  to  the  American  side  of  the  account 
a  few  genera  and  species  of  Texas,  like  Koeberlinia,  Ungnadia,  Parkinsonia,  Prosopis,  Acacia. 
Chilopsis,  and  Pithecolobium,  which  Professor  Gray  did  not  include  in  the  enumeration  from 
which  his  deductions  were  made.  The  south  Florida  species  are  again  omitted,  and  those 
plants  which  grow  up  with  a  single  stem  will  be  considered  trees.  In  eastern  North  America, 
that  is  in  the  whole  region  north  of  Mexico  and  east  of  the  treeless  plateau  of  the  centre  of 
the  continent,  but  exclusive  of  south  Florida,  225  species  of  trees,  divided  among  134  genera, 
are  now  known.  The  Japan-Manchurian  region  includes  eastern  Manchuria,  the  Kurile 
Islands,  Saghalin,  and  the  four  great  Japanese  islands,  but  for  our  purpose  does  not  include 
the  Loochoo  group,  which,  although  it  forms  a  part  of  the  Japanese  empire  politically,  is 
tropical  and  subtropical  in  the  character  of  its  vegetation,  which,  moreover,  is  still  imperfectly 
understood.  In  this  narrow  eastern  border  of  Asia  there  are  now  known  241  trees  divided 
among  ninety-nine  genera.  The  extra  Japanese  portion  of  the  region  contributes  but  little 
to  the  enumeration.  In  Saghalin,  Fr.  Schmidt2  found  only  three  trees  which  do  not  inhabit 
Yezo,  and  in  Manchuria,  according  to  Maximowicz3  and  Schmidt,4  there  are  only  eighteen 

1  A  number  of  shrubs,  familiar  in  western  gardens,  and  kerrioides,  Cercis  Chinensis,   Enkianthus  Japonicus,   Forsy- 

usually  supposed  to  be  Japanese  from  the  fact  that  they  were  thia  suspensa,  Olea  fragrans,  Tecoina   grandifiora,   Daphne 

first  known  to  Europeans  in  Japan,  or  were  first  sent  from  Genkwa,  Edgeworthia  papyrifera,  and  Wikstrcemia  Japonica. 

that  country,  are  also  Chinese  or  Corean,  and  in  Japan   are  Nandiua  domestica,  the  most  universally  cultivated   orna- 

only  found  in  gardens  or  in  the  neighborhood  of  habitations.  mental  plant  in  Japan,  is  probably  not  a  Japanese  plant, 

Among  them    are  Clematis  patens,  Magnolia  stellata,  Mag-  although  Rein  states  that  it  grows  wild  in  Shikoku. 

nolia   obovata,  Berberis  Japonica,  Citrus  Japouica,  Prunus  -  Reisen  in  Amurland. 

tomentosa,  Prunus  Japonica,  Spiraea  Thunbergii,  Rhodotypos  8  Prim.  Fl.  Amur.                      4  Heisen  in  Amurland. 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

trees  which  do  not  also  occur  in  Saghalin  or  in  the  northern  Japanese  islands.  In  the  four 
islands  of  Yezo,  Hondo,  Shikoku,  and  Kyushu,  therefore,  we  now  find  220  trees  divided 
among  ninety-nine  genera,  or  only  five  less  than  occur  in  the  immense  territory  which 
extends  from  Labrador  to  the  Rio  Grande  and  from  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  to  the  eastern 
base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Neither  Cycas  revoluta  nor  Trachycarpns  (Chamserops)  excelsa 
is  included  in  the  Japanese  list,  as  the  best  observers  appear  to  agree  in  thinking  that  these 
two  familiar  plants  are  not  indigenous  to  Japan  proper.  I  have  omitted,  moreover,  a  few 
doubtful  species  from  the  Japan  enumeration,  like  Fagus  Japonica,  Maxiniowicz,  and  Abies 
umbellata,  Mayr,  of  which  I  could  learn  nothing  in  Japan,  so  that  it  is  more  probable  that 
the  number  of  Japanese  trees  will  be  increased  than  that  any  addition  will  be  made  to  the 
silva  of  eastern  America. 

The  proportion  of  trees  to  the  whole  flora  of  Japan  is  remarkable,  being  about  1  to  10.14, 
the  number  of  indigenous  flowering  plants  and  vascicular  cryptogams  being  not  very  far 
from  2,500  species.  Still  more  remarkable  is  the  large  proportion  of  woody  plants  to  the 
whole  flora.  In  Japan  proper  there  are  certainly  not  less  than  325  species  of  shrubs,  or  550 
woody  plants  in  all,  or  one  woody  plant  in  every  4.55  of  the  whole  flora,  —  a  much  larger 
percentage  than  occurs  in  any  part  of  North  America. 

The  aggregation  of  arborescent  species  in  Japan  is,  however,  the  most  striking  feature  in 
the  silva  of  that  country.  This  is  most  noticeable  in  Yezo,  where  probably  more  species  of 
trees  are  growing  naturally  in  a  small  area  than  in  any  other  one  place  outside  the  tropics, 
Avith  the  exception  of  the  lower  basin  of  the  Ohio  River,  where,  on  a  few  acres  in  southern 
Indiana,  Professor  Robert  Ridgway  has  counted  no  less  than  seventy-five  arborescent  species 
in  thirty-six  genera.1  Near  Sapporo,  the  capital  of  the  island,  in  ascending  a  hill  which  rises 
only  500  feet  above  the  level  of  the  ocean,  I  noticed  the  following  trees :  Magnolia  hypoleuca, 
Magnolia  Kobus,  Cercidiphyllum  Japonicum,  Tilia  cordata,  Tilia  Miqueliana,  Phellodendron 
Amurense,  Picrasma  ailanthoides,  Evonymus  Europaeus,  var.  Hamiltonianus,  Acer  pictum, 
Acer  Japonicum,  Acer  palmatum,  Rhus  semialata,  Rhus  trichocarpa,  Maackia  Amurensis, 
Prunus  Pseudo-Cerasus,  Prunus  Ssiori,  Pyrns  aucuparia,  Pyrus  Toringo,  Pyrus  Miyabei, 
Hydrangea  paniculata,  Aralia  spinosa,  var.  canescens,  Acanthopauax  ricinifolium,  Acanthopa- 
nax  sciadophylloides,  Cornus  macrophylla,  Syringa  Japonica,  Fraxinus  Mandshurica,  Fraxinus 
longicuspis,  Clerodendron  trichotomum,  Ulmus  campestris,  Ulmus  scabra,  var.  laciniata, 
Morus  alba,  Juglans  Sieboldiana,  Betula  alba,  Betula  alba,  var.  Tauschii,  Betula  alba,  var. 
verrucosa,  Betula  Ermani,  Betula  Maximowicziana,  Almis  incana,  Carpinus  cordata,  Ostrya 
Japonica,  Quercus  crispula,  Quercus  gosseserrata,  Castanea  vulgaris,  Populus  tremula,  Picea 
Ajanensis,  Abies  Sachalinensis,  —  forty-six  species  and  varieties.  Within  five  miles  of  this  hill 
also  grow  Acer  spicatum,  var.  Kurunduense,  Acer  Tataricum,  var.  Ginnala,  Styrax  Obassia, 
Aphananthe  aspera,  Quercus  dentata,  Quercus  glandulifera,  Alnus  Japonica,  Salix  subfragilis, 
Salix  Caprea,  Salix  stipularis,  Salix  acutifolia,  Salix  viminalis,  and  Populus  suaveolans,  —  in  all 
sixty-two  species  and  varieties,  or  more  than  a  quarter  of  all  the  trees  of  the  empire,  which  are 
crowded  into  an  area  a  few  miles  square,  in  the  latitude  of  northern  New  England,  in  which, 
north  of  Cape  Cod,  there  are  only  about  the  same  number  of  trees. 

1  See  Proc.  U.  S.  Nat.  Mm.  1882,  52.  —  Garden  and  Forest,  vi.  148. 


4  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

A  further  examination  of  the  trees  of  the  two  countries  shows  that,  although  the  Japan- 
Manchurian  region  possesses  more  arborescent  species  than  eastern  America,  the  silva  of  the 
latter  is  much  richer  in  genera,  —  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  to  ninety-nine  in  Japan- 
Manchuria.  Forty-four  genera  have  arborescent  species  in  the  two  regions ;  forty-five  genera 
with  Japanese  representatives  have  none  in  the  flora  of  eastern  America,  and  thirty-eight 
genera  represented  in  the  American  flora  do  not  appear  in  that  of  Japan.  A  few  genera,  five 
in  eastern  America  and  seven  in  Japan,  are  represented  by  trees  in  one  region  and  by  shrubs 
only  in  the  other.  Of  endemic  arborescent  genera  the  silva  of  eastern  America  contains 
Asimina,  Koeberlinia,  Cliftonia,  Ungnadia,  Robinia,  Cladrastis,  Pinckneya,  Oxydendrum,  Mohro- 
dendron,  Sassafras,  Planera,  Toxylon,  Leitneria,  Hicoria,  and  Taxodium,  fifteen,  while  in  Japan 
there  are  only  five, —  Cercidiphyllum,1  Trochodendron,  Platycarya,  Cryptomeria,  and  Sciadopitys. 

Such  a  comparison  between  the  silvas  of  eastern  America  and  Japan  is  interesting  as 
showing  the  great  number  of  arborescent  species  inhabiting  four  small  islands.  The  signifi- 
cant comparison,  however,  if  it  can  ever  be  made,  will  be  between  eastern  America,  as  here 
limited,  and  all  of  eastern  Asia  from  the  northern  limits  of  tree-growth  to  the  tropics,  and 
from  the  eastern  rim  of  the  Thibetan  plateau  to  the  eastern  coast  of  Japan.  This  would 
include  Corea,  practically  an  unexplored  country  botanically,  especially  the  northern  portions, 
and  all  the  mountain  ranges  of  western  China,  a  region  which,  if  it  is  to  be  judged  from  the 
collections  made  there  in  recent  years,  is  far  richer  in  trees  than  Japan  itself.  It  is  impossible 
to  discuss  with  precision  or  with  much  satisfaction  the  distribution  of  the  ligneous  plants  of 
the  north  temperate  zone  until  more  is  known  of  western  China  and  of  Corea,  where  may  be 
sought  the  home  of  many  plants  now  spread  through  eastern  China  and  Japan,  and  where 
alone  outside  the  tropics  the  enterprising  and  industrious  collector  may  now  hope  to  be 
rewarded  with  new  forms  of  ligneous  vegetation. 

Travelers  in  Japan  have  often  insisted  on  the  resemblance  between  that  country  and  eastern 
America  in  the  general  features  of  vegetation.  But  with  the  exception  of  Yezo,  which  is  still 
mostly  uninhabited  and  in  a  state  of  nature,  and  those  portions  of  the  other  islands  which  are 
over  5,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  ocean,  it  is  difficult  to  form  a  sufficiently  accurate  idea 
of  the  general  appearance  of  the  original  forest-covering  of  Japan  to  be  able  to  compare  the 
aspects  of  its  vegetation  with  those  of  any  other  country,  for  every  foot  of  the  lowlands  and 
the  mountain  valleys  of  the  three  southern  islands  has  been  cultivated  for  centuries.  And 
the  foothills  and  low  mountains  which  were  once  clothed  with  forests,  and  could  be  again, 
are  now  covered  with  coarse  herbage,  principally  Eulalia,  and  are  destitute  of  trees,  except 
such  as  have  sprung  up  in  sheltered  ravines,  and  have  succeeded  in  escaping  the  fires  which 
are  set  every  year  to  burn  off  the  dry  grasses.  Remoteness,  bad  roads,  and  the  impossibility 
of  bringing  down  their  timber  into  the  valleys  have  saved  the  mountain  forests  of  Japan, 
which  may  still  be  seen,  especially  between  5,000  and  8,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  in 
their  natural  condition.  But  these  elevated  forests  are  composed  of  comparatively  few  species, 
and  if  it  were  not  for  the  plantations  of  Conifers,  which  the  Japanese  for  at  least  twelve 
centuries,  it  is  said,  have  been  making  to  supply  their  workers  in  wood  with  material,  and  for 

1  Since  this  was  written  I  have  received  through  M.  M.  L.  de  Vilniorm  of  Paris  seeds  of  a  Cereidiphyllum  gathered  in 
the  extreme  western  part  of  China. 


INTR  OD  UCTION.  5 

the  trees  preserved  or  planted  in  the  temple  grounds  in  the  neighborhood  of  towns,  it  would 
be  impossible  to  obtain  any  idea  at  all  of  many  of  the  Japanese  trees.  But,  fortunately, 
for  nearly  two  thousand  years  the  priests  of  Buddha  have  planted  and  replanted  trees  about 
their  temples,  which  are  often  surrounded  by  what  now  appear  to  be  natural  woods,  as  no 
tree  is  ever  cut  and  no  attempt  is  made  to  clear  up  the  undergrowth.  These  groves  are 
sometimes  of  considerable  extent,  and  contain  noble  trees,  Japanese  and  Chinese,  which  give 
some  idea  of  what  the  inhabitants  of  the  forests  of  Japan  were  before  the  land  was  cleared 
for  agriculture. 

The  floras  of  Japan  and  eastern  America  have,  it  is  true,  some  curious  features  in  common, 
and  the  presence  in  the  two  regions  of  certain  types  not  found  elsewhere  show  their  relation- 
ship. But  these  plants  are  usually  small,  and  are  rare  or  grow  only  on  the  high  mountains. 
Diphylleia,  Buckleya,  Epigsea,  and  Shortia  show  the  common  origin  of  the  two  floras ;  but 
these  are  rare  plants  in  Japan,  as  they  are  in  America,  with  the  exception  of  Epigsea,  and 
probably  not  one  traveler  in  ten  thousand  has  ever  seen  them,  while  the  chief  elements  of  the 
forest  flora  of  northern  Japan,  the  only  part  of  the  empire  where,  as  has  already  been  said, 
comparison  is  possible,  —  those  which  all  travelers  notice,  —  do  not  recall  America  so  much, 
perhaps,  as  they  do  Siberia  and  Europe. 

The  broad-leaved  Black  Oaks,  which  form  the  most  distinct  and  conspicuous  feature  in  all 
the  forests  of  eastern  America,  are  entirely  absent  from  Japan,  and  the  deciduous-leaved 
White  Oaks,  which,  in  Japan,  constitute  a  large  part  of  the  forest-growth  of  the  north,  are  of 
the  European  and  not  of  the  American  type,  with  the  exception  of  Quercus  dentata,  which 
has  no  related  species  in  America.  The  Chestnut  Oaks,  which  are  common  and  conspicuous, 
both  in  the  northern  and  southern  parts  of  eastern  America,  do  not  occur  in  Japan,  and  the 
Evergreen  Oaks,  which  abound  in  the  southern  part  of  that  empire,  where  they  are  more 
common  than  any  other  group  of  trees,  are  Asiatic  and  not  American  in  their  relationships. 

Many  of  our  most  familiar  American  trees  are  absent  from  the  forests  of  Japan.  The 
Tulip-tree,  the  Pawpaw  or  Asimina,  the  Ptelea  or  Hop-tree,  the  Loblolly  Bay  or  Gordonia, 
the  Cyrilla  and  the  Cliftonia,  the  Plum-trees,  which  abound  here  in  many  forms,  the  Texas 
Buckeye  (Ungnadia),  the  Mesquite,  the  Locusts,  the  Cladrastis  or  Virgilia,  the  Kentucky 
Coffee-tree  or  Gymnocladus,  the  Liquidambar,  the  Tupelos,  the  Sourwood  or  Oxydendrum,  the 
Osage  Orange,  the  Kalmia,  the  Sassafras,  the  Persea  or  Red  Bay,  the  Planera  or  Water  Elm, 
the  Plane-tree,  the  Black  Walnut,  the  Hickories,  and  the  deciduous  Cypress  —  all  common 
and  conspicuous  in  our  forests  —  are  not  found  in  Japan.  Cratsegus,  with  a  dozen  species, 
is  one  of  the  features  of  the  forest  flora  of  eastern  America,  while  in  Japan  the  genus  is  repre- 
sented by  a  single  species,  confined  to  the  northern  part  of  the  empire,  and  nowhere  very 
common.  The  Japanese  Maples,  with  the  exception  of  Acer  pictum,  which  is  not  unlike  our 
Sugar  Maple,  have  no  close  resemblance  or  relationship  with  the  eastern  American  species ; 
the  Beech  and  the  Chestnut  are  European,  and  not  American ;  the  Birches,  with  one  excep- 
tion, are  of  the  Old  World  type,  as  are  the  Lindens,  Ashes,  Willows,  the  Celtis,  the  Alders, 
Poplars,  and  Larches.1 

1  Of  the  arborescent  genera  of  Japan,  thirty  are  represented  in  Europe,  and  all  of  these,  with  the  exception  of  Buxus,  are 
also  found  in  eastern  America. 


6  FOREST  FLORA   OF  JAPAN. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Japanese  will  not  find  in  our  forests  Euptelea  and  Cercidiphyllum 
of  the  Magnolia  family,  Trochodendron,  Idesia,  the  arborescent  Ternstrcemiacese  (Tern- 
stroemia,  Cleyera,  Eurya,  and  Camellia),  Phellodendron  and  Hovenia,  Euscaphis,  Maackia  and 
Albizzia,  Distylium,  Acanthopanax,  Syringa,  many  arborescent  Lauracete  (Cinnamomum, 
Machilus  and  Actinodaphne),  which,  next  to  the  Evergreen  Oaks,  are  the  most  distin- 
guishing features  of  the  forest  flora  of  southern  Japan.  Nor  will  they  find  the  beautiful 
arborescent  Linderas  which  abound  in  Japan,  while  in  America  the  genus  is  only  represented 
by  two  unimportant  shrubs,  the  arborescent  Euphorbiaceae,  like  Buxus,  Daphniphyllom, 
Aleurites,  Mallotus,  and  Excoecaria,  or  Zelkova,  Aphananthe,  Broussonetia,  and  Debregeasia, 
or  find  anything  to  remind  them  of  Pterocarya  and  Platycarya,  Cryptomeria,  Cephalotaxus, 
and  Sciadopitys. 

The  forests  of  the  two  regions  possess  in  common  Magnolia  and  J^sculus,  which  are  more 
abundant  in  species  and  individuals  in  America  than  in  Japan.  The  Rhuses  or  Sumachs  are 
very  similar  in  the  two  regions,  and  so  are  the  Witch  Hazel  and  the  arborescent  Aralia. 
Cornus  macrophylla  of  Japan  is  only  an  enlarged  Corn  us  alternifolia  of  eastern  America,  and 
the  so-called  Flowering  Dogwoods  of  the  two  countries  are  not  unlike.  The  Japanese 
Walnut  is  very  like  the  American  Butternut,  while,  rather  curiously,  the  Japanese  Thuya  and 
the  two  Chamaecyparis,  the  Piceas  and  Abies,  resemble  species  of  Pacific  North  America,  a 
region  whose  flora  has  little  affinity  with  that  of  eastern  Asia.  Tumion  is  common  to  the 
two  regions ;  in  eastern  America  it  is  one  of  the  most  local  of  all  our  trees,  while  in  Japan  it 
is  abundant  in  the  mountainous  regions  of  the  central  and  southern  parts  of  the  empire. 

Apart  from  the  characters  which  distinguish  related  genera  and  species  of  Japanese  trees 
from  their  American  congeners  there  are  many  aspects  of  vegetation  which  make  the  two 
countries  unlike.  The  number  of  broad-leaved  evergreen  trees  is  much  greater  in  southern 
Japan  than  in  the  southern  United  States,  there  being  fifty  species  of  these  trees  in  the 
former,  and  only  twenty  in  eastern  America  (exclusive  always  of  southern  Florida),  and  the 
general  aspect  of  the  groves  and  woods  at  the  sea-level,  even  in  the  latitude  of  Tokyo,  is  of 
broad-leaved  evergreens.  The  number  of  evergreen  shrubs  in  proportion  to  the  entire  flora  is 
much  greater  in  Japan,  too,  than  it  is  in  America,  and  plants  of  this  character  grow  much 
farther  north  in  the  former  than  in  the  latter  country.  The  small  number  of  species  of 
Pinus  in  Japan,  and  their  scarcity  at  the  north,  is  in  striking  contrast  to  the  number  and 
distribution  of  the  species  of  this  genus  in  eastern  America,  where  there  are  thirteen  species  to 
only  five  in  Japan,  including  one  shrub.  In  Japan  the  Hemlock  forms  continuous  and  almost 
unbroken  forests  of  great  extent  on  the  mountain-slopes,  which  are  over  5,000  feet  above  the 
sea,  while  in  eastern  America  this  tree  is  rarely  found  except  scattered  in  small  groves  or  as 
single  individuals  through  the  deciduous-leaved  forests.  On  the  other  hand,  Picea  and  Abies, 
which  in  America  form  immense  forests  almost  to  the  exclusion  of  other  species,  grow, 
wherever  I  have  seen  them  in  Japan,  singly,  or,  in  the  case  of  Abies,  in  small  groves  on  the 
lower  border  of  the  Hemlock  forests  or  mingled  with  deciduous-leaved  trees.  Picea  Ajanensis 
is  said,  however,  to  form  extensive  forests  in  some  parts  of  western  Yezo,  and  Professor 
Miyabe  informs  me  that  in  the  extreme  northern  part  of  that  island  there  are  fine  continuous 
forests  of  Abies  Sachalinensis.  In  northern  Japan  and  on  the  high  mountains  of  the  central 


PLATE  II. 


HEMLOCK  FOREST  OF  LAKE  YUMOTO. 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

islands,  Birches  are  more  abundant  than  they  are  in  our  northern  forests ;  and  the  river  banks 
at  the  north,  like  those  of  northern  Europe  and  Siberia,  are  lined  with  arborescent  Willows 
and  Alders,  which  are  rare  in  eastern  America,  where  these  genera  are  usually  represented 
by  shrubs.  / 

The  illustration  on  the  opposite  page  (Plate  ii.)  gives  some  idea  of  the  general  appearance 
of  the  great  coniferous  forests  which  cover  the  highlands  of  central  Japan.  In  the  fore- 
ground, Lake  Yuuioto,  famous  for  its  thermal  springs,  nestles,  5,000  feet  above  the  sea,  among 
the  Nikko  Mountains.  The  forests  which  rise  from  the  shores  of  the  lake  are  principally 
composed  of  Hemlock  (Tsuga  diversifolia),  among  which  are  Birch  (Betula  Ermani),  Abies 
and  Picea,  Pterocarya,  Cercidiphyllum,  and  the  Mountain  Ash.  In  the  dense  shade  by  the 
shores  of  the  lake  grow  dwarf  forms  of  the  Indian  Azalea,  Elliottia  paniculata,  our  Canadian 
Bunch  Berry  (Cornus  Canadensis),  great  masses  of  Rhododendron  Metternichii,  which  in 
these  forests  replaces  Rhododendron  Catawbiense  of  the  Appalachian  Mountains,  the  dwarf 
Ilex  rugosa,  Clethra  canescens,  here  at  the  upper  limits  of  its  distribution,  Panax  horrida,  and 
the  dwarf  Blueberries  which  inhabit  mountain-slopes  in  all  northern  countries,  as  well  as  the 
ubiquitous  Bamboos. 

The  undergrowth  which  covers  the  ground  beneath  the  forests  in  the  two  regions  is  so 
unlike  that  it  must  at  once  attract  the  attention  of  the  most  careless  observer.  In  all  the 
Appalachian  region  of  North  America  this  is  composed  of  a  great  number  of  shrubs,  chiefly 
of  various  species  of  Vaccinium  and  Gaylusaccia,  of  EpigaBa,  wild  Roses,  Kalmias,  dwarf 
Pyrus  and  Lycopodiums ;  in  Japan  the  forest-floor  is  covered,  even  high  on  the  mountains, 
and  in  the  extreme  north,  with  a  continuous,  almost  impenetrable,  mass  of  dwarf  Bamboos  of 
several  species,  which  makes  traveling  in  the  woods,  except  over  long-beaten  paths  and  up  the 
beds  of  streams,  practically  impossible.  These  Bamboos,  which  vary  in  height  from  three  to 
six  feet  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  make  the  forest-floor  monotonous  and  uninteresting, 
and  prevent  the  growth  of  nearly  all  other  nnder-shrubs,  except  the  most  vigorous  species. 
Shrubs,  therefore,  are  mostly  driven  to  the  borders  of  roads  and  other  open  places,  or  to  the 
banks  of  streams  and  lakes,  where  they  can  obtain  sufficient  light  to  enable  them  to  rise  above 
the  Bamboos ;  and  it  is  the  abundance  of  the  Bamboo,  no  doubt,  which  has  developed  the 
climbing  habit  of  many  Japanese  plants,  which  are  obliged  to  ascend  the  trees  in  search  of 
sun  and  light,  for  the  Japanese  forest  is  filled  with  climbing  shrubs,  which  flourish  with  trop- 
ical luxuriance. 

The  wild  Grape  grows  in  the  damp  forests  of  Yezo  with' a  vigor  and  to  a  size  which  the 
American  species  do  not  often  attain,  even  in  the  semitropical  climate  of  the  southern  Missis- 
sippi valley.  Actinidia  arguta  climbs  into  the  tops  of  the  tallest  trees,  and  nothing  is  so 
un-American  or  so  attracts  the  attention  of  the  American  traveler  in  Japan  as  the  trunks  of 
trees  clothed  to  the  height  of  sixty  or  eighty  feet  with  splendid  masses  of  the  climbing 
Hydrangeas  (H.  petiolaris  and  Schizophragma),  or  with  the  lustrous  evergreen  foliage  of  the 
climbing  Evonymus.  Wistaria  is  represented,  it  is  true,  in  eastern  America,  but  here  it  is  not 
common  or  one  of  the  chief  features  of  vegetation  as  it  is  in  Japan  ;  and  the  Ivy,  a  southern 
plant  only  in  Japan,  and  nowhere  very  common,  helps  to  remind  the  traveler  that  he  is  in  the 
Old  and  not  in  the  New  World. 


THE   MAGNOLIA   FAMILY. 

THE  general  character  of  the  composition  of  the  Japanese  forests  having  been  briefly 
traced,  I  shall  now  say  something  of  the  most  important  Japanese  trees ;  and,  as  their  botan- 
ical characters  are  already  pretty  well  understood  and  their  economic  properties  are  only  of 
secondary  interest  to  the  general  reader,  these  remarks  will  relate  principally  to  their  quality 
from  a  horticultural  point  of  view.  A  comparison  with  allied  eastern  American  species  will 
perhaps  be  useful ;  it  will,  at  any  rate,  show  that,  while  Japan  is  extremely  rich  in  the 
number  of  its  tree  species,  the  claim  that  has  been  made,  that  the  forests  of  eastern  America 
contain  the  noblest  deciduous  trees  of  all  temperate  regions,  can,  so  far  as  Japan  is  con- 
cerned, be  substantiated,  for,  with  few  exceptions,  the  deciduous  trees  of  eastern  America 
surpass  their  Asiatic  relatives  in  size  and  beauty. 

In  the  Magnolia  family  Japan  possesses  five  genera,  while  in  the  United  States  there  are 
only  four.  In  Japan  afborescent  Magnoliaceae  reach  the  most  northern  limit  attained  in  any 
country  by  these  plants,  and  one  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  the  Japanese  flora  is  the 
presence  in  Yezo  of  two  large  trees  of  this  tropical  and  semitropical  family  as  far  north,  at  least, 
as  the  forty-fourth  degree,  while  the  representative  of  a  third  genus,  Schizandra,  is  found  still 
farther  north  on  the  Manchurian  mainland.  In  eastern  America  two  species  of  Magnolia  reach 
nearly  as  high  latitudes  as  this  genus  does  in  Japan,  but  in  the  United  States  Magnolia  is 
really  southern,  and  has  only  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  precarious  foothold  at  the  north,  while 
in  Yezo  it  is  a  most  important  element  and  a  conspicuous  feature  of  the  forest  vegetation. 

Of  true  Magnolias  three  species  grow  naturally  in  Japan ;  two  of  these  belong  to  the 
section  of  the  genus  which  produces  its  flowers  before  the  leaves  appear,  and  which  has  no 
representative  in  the  flora  of  America ;  the  third,  Magnolia  hypoleuca,  bears  some  resemblance 
to  our  Magnolia  tripetala.  This  tree  is  seen  at  its  best  in  the  damp  rich  forests  which  cover 
the  low  rolling  hills  of  Yezo,  where  it  sometimes  rises  to  the  height  of  a  hundred  feet  and 
forms  trunks  two  feet  in  diameter  ;  on  the  other  Japanese  islands  it  is  confined  to  the  moun- 
tain forests,  and  apparently  does  not  descend  below  2,000  feet  above  the  sea  ;  and  it  is  only 
in  Yezo  and  on  the  high  mountains  in  the  extreme  northern  part  of  the  main  island  that 
I  saw  it  of  large  size.  In  central  Japan  it  rarely  appears  more  than  twenty  or  thirty  feet 
high,  although  this  can  perhaps  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  all  trees  in  the  accessible 
parts  of  the  Japanese  forests  are  cut  as  soon  as  they  are  large  enough  to  be  used  for  timber. 
Magnolia  hypoleuca  must  be  considered  a  northern  species,  requiring  a  cold  winter  climate 
for  its  best  development,  and  it  probably  will  not  thrive  in  regions  where  the  ground  is  not 
covered  with  snow  during  several  months  of  every  year. 

Magnolia  hypoleuca  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  beautiful  of  the  deciduous-leaved 
Magnolias ;  in  the  early  autumn,  when  the  cones  of  fruit,  which  exceed  those  of  any  of  our 
species  in  size  and  are  sometimes  eight  inches  long,  and  brilliant  scarlet  in  color,  stand  out  on 


PLATE  III. 


C.  E.  FAXON  del. 


MAGNOLIA  KOBUS,  D.  C. 


THE  MAGNOLIA  FAMILY.  9 

the  branches,  it  is  the  most  striking  feature  of  the  forests  of  Hokkaido,  which  in  variety  and 
interest  are  not  surpassed  by  those  of  any  other  part  of  the  world.  Like  Magnolia  tripetala, 
it  is  a  tree  of  open  habit,  with  long  spreading  irregularly  contorted  branches  covered,  as  well 
as  the  trunk,  with  pale  smooth  bark.  The  leaves,  however,  are  not  as  much  crowded  together 
at  the  ends  of  the  flowering  branches  as  they  are  in  the  American  species,  but  are  placed 
rather  remotely  on  the  brauchlets ;  they  are  twelve  or  fourteen  inches  long  and  seven  or  eight 
inches  broad,  and  on  young  vigorous  trees  are  sometimes  twice  this  size.  On  the  upper 
surface  they  are  light  bright  green,  and  pale  steel  blue  or  sometimes  almost  silvery  on  the 
lower  surface,  so  that  when  raised  by  the  wind  they  give  the  tree  a  light  and  cheerful  appear- 
ance. The  flowers  are  six  or  seven  inches  across  when  expanded,  with  creamy  white  petals 
and  brilliant  scarlet  filaments ;  they  appear  in  May  and  June,  after  the  leaves  are  nearly  full 
grown,  and  are, very  fragrant. 

Magnolia  hypoleuca  is  still  rare  in  gardens,  although  it  was  sent  by  Mr.  Thomas  Hogg  to 
the  United  States  as  early  as  1865,  and  has  flowered  in  the  neighborhood  of  New  York  and 
Boston ;  it  is  probable  that  it  will  thrive  in  any  part  of  the  northern  United  States,  although, 
like  other  Hokkaido  trees,  it  may  suffer  from  summer  and  autumn  droughts,  which  are 
unknown  in  Japan,  where  the  rainfall  during  August  and  September  is  regular  and  abundant. 
As  an  ornamental  tree  Magnolia  hypoleuca  is  superior  to  Magnolia  tripetala  in  the  fragrance 
of  its  flowers  and  in  the  coloring  of  its  leaves ;  it  is  less  desirable  than  Magnolia  macrophylla, 
which  surpasses  its  Japanese  relative  in  form  and  in  the  size  and  beauty  of  its  flowers  and 
leaves,  the  largest  produced  on  any  plant  of  the  Magnolia  family,  and  larger  than  those  of 
any  other  North  American  tree.  As  a  timber-tree  Magnolia  hypoleuca  is  valuable.  The 
wood,  like  that  of  all  the  Magnolias,  is  straight-grained,  soft,  light-colored,  and  easily  seasoned 
and  worked.  It  is  esteemed  and  much  used  in  Japan  for  all  sorts  of  objects  that  are  to  be 
covered  with  lacquer,  especially  sword-sheaths,  which  are  usually  made  from  it ;  in  Hokkaido 
it  is  employed  for  the  interior  finish  of  houses,  and  for  boxes  and  cabinets,  although  harder 
woods  are  generally  preferred  for  such  purposes. 

In  the  forests  of  Hokkaido  a  second  species,  Magnolia  Kobus,1  occurs.  This  tree  some- 
times grows  in  the  neighborhood  of  Sapporo  to  the  height  of  seventy  or  eighty  feet,  and 
develops  a  tall  straight  trunk  nearly  two  feet  in  diameter,  covered  with  rather  dark,  slightly 
furrowed  bark.  The  branches  are  short  and  slender,  and  form  a  narrow  pyramidal  head, 
which  only  becomes  round-topped  when  the  tree  has  attained  its  full  size.  The  branchlets  are 
more  slender  than  those  of  most  species  of  Magnolia,  and  are  covered  with  dark  reddish  brown 
bark.  The  flowers  (Plate  iii.)  appear  near  Sapporo  in  the  middle  of  May,  before  the  leaves, 
from  acute  buds  an  inch  long,  half  an  inch  broad,  and  protected  by  long  thickly  matted  pale 
hairs.  They  are  from  four  to  five  inches  across  when  fully  expanded,  with  small  acute 
caducous  sepals  and  narrow  obovate  thin  creamy  white  petals.  The  stamens,  with  short  broad 
filaments,  are  much  shorter  than  the  narrow  acute  cone  of  pistils.  The  leaves  are  obovate, 

1  Magnolia  Kobus,  De  Candolle,  Syst.  i.  456.  —  Miquel,  Magnolia  tomentosa,  Thunberg,  Trans.  Linn.  Soc.  ii.  336 

Prol.  Fl.  Jap.  146.  —  Maximowicz,  Mel.  Biol.  viii.  507.  —       (in  part). 

Franchet  &  Savatier,  Enum.  PI.  Jap.  i.  16.  Magnolia  glauca,  var.  a,  Thunberg,  Fl.  Jap.  236. 

Kobus,  Kaempfer,  Icon.  Select,  t.  42. 


10  FOEEST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

gradually  narrowed  below,  and  abruptly  contracted  at  the  apex  into  short  broad  points ;  they 
are  pubescent  on  the  lower  surface  at  first,  especially  on  the  stout  midribs  and  primary  veins, 
but  at  maturity  are  glabrous,  or  nearly  so,  and  are  bluish  green,  and  rather  lighter  colored 
on  the  lower  than  on  the  upper  surface ;  they  are  six  or  seven  inches  long,  three  or  four 
inches  broad,  rather  conspicuously  reticulate-veined,  and  are  borne  on  stout  petioles  half  an 
inch  to  an  inch  and  a  half  in  length.  The  fruit  is  slender,  four  or  five  inches  long,  and  is 
often  contorted  or  curved  from  the  abortion  of  some  of  the  seeds ;  it  is  dark  brown,  the 
carpels  being  conspicuously  marked  with  pale  dots. 

Magnolia  Kobus  is  exceedingly  common  in  the  forests  which  clothe  the  hills  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Sapporo,  where  it  grows  to  a  larger  size  than  in  any  part  of  Japan  which  I  visited ; 
near  the  shores  of  Volcano  Bay  it  occurs  in  low  swampy  ground  and  in  the  neighborhood  of 
streams,  in  situations  very  similar  to  those  selected  by  Magnolia  glauca  in  the  United  States. 
On  the  main  island  Magnolia  Kobus  is  much  less  common  than  it  is  in  Hokkaido,  and  I  only 
met  with  it  occasionally  on  the  Hakone  and  Nikko  Mountains  at  considerable  elevations  above 
the  sea.  This  handsome  tree  was  introduced  into  the  United  States  by  Mr.  Thomas  Hogg, 
and  was  distributed  from  the  Parsons'  Nurseries  as  Magnolia  Thurberi,  under  the  belief  that 
it  was  an  undescribed  species.  In  cultivation  it  does  not  flower  freely  in  the  young  state, 
although  trees  in  Pennsylvania,  and  in  the  Arnold  Arboretum,  where  it  was  raised  from  seed 
sent  from  Sapporo  fifteen  years  ago,  have  produced  a  few  flowers.  In  New  England  Magnolia 
Kobus  is  the  hardiest,  most  vigorous,  and  most  rapid  growing  of  all  Magnolias. 

I  spent  the  2d  and  3d  of  October  in  company  with  Mr.  James  Herbert  Veitch  and  Mr. 
Tokubuchi,  an  accomplished  Japanese  botanist,  on  Mount  Hakkoda,  an  extinct  volcano  6,000 
feet  high,  which  rises  southeast  and  a  few  miles  distant  from  Aomori,  the  most  northern  city 
of  the  main  island  of  Japan.  Botanically  this  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  excursions  I 
made  in  Japan,  and  we  were  able  to  gather  the  seeds  of  a  number  of  plants  that  we  did  not 
meet  with  elsewhere.  On  this  mountain,  in  the  very  spot,  perhaps,  where  Maries  discovered 
this  fine  tree,  we  found  Abies  Mariesii  covered  with  its  large  purple  cones ;  and  on  the  upper 
slopes  saw  the  dwarf  Pinus  pumila,  forming  almost  impenetrable  thickets  five  or  six  feet  high 
and  many  acres  in  area,  and  numerous  alpine  shrubs  like  Andromeda  nana,  Gaultheria  pyro- 
loides,  Epigaja  Asiatica,  Phyllodoce  taxifolia,  and  Geum  dryadoides.  On  this  mountain,  too, 
we  established  the  most  northern  recorded  station  in  Asia  of  the  Hemlock  (Tsuga  diversi- 
folia) ;  and  near  the  base  Ilex  crenata,  Ilex  Sugeroki,  a  handsome  evergreen  species  with 
bright  red  fruit,  the  dwarf  Ilex  integra,  var.  leucoclada,  and  Daplmiphyllum  humile  were 
very  common  ;  and  here  we,were  fortunate  in  finding  good  fruit  and  ripe  seeds  of  Magnolia 
salicifolia. 

On  Mount  Hakkoda  Magnolia  salicifolia  (see  Plate  iv.)  is  a  common  plant  between  2,000 
and  3,000  feet  above  the  sea-level.  As  it  appears  there  it  is  a  slender  tree  fifteen  or  twenty 
feet  high,  with  stems  three  or  four  inches  thick,  covered  with  pale  smooth  bark,  and  some- 
times solitary,  or  more  commonly  in  clusters  of  three  or  four.  The  branchlets  are  slender,  and 
light  green  at  first,  like  those  of  Magnolia  glauca,  later  growing  darker,  and  in  their  third 
year  becoming  dark  reddish  brown.  The  leaves  are  ovate,  acute,  gradually  narrowed  or 
rarely  rounded  at  the  base,  contracted  into  long  slender  points  and  sometimes  slightly  falcate 


PLATE  IV. 


C.  E.  FAXON  del. 


MAGNOLIA  SALIC  IFOLIA,  MAXM. 


THE  MAGNOLIA   FAMILY.  11 

toward  the  apex ;  they  are  thin,  light  green  on  the  upper  and  silvery  white  on  the  lower 
surface,  quite  glabrous  at  maturity,  five  or  six  inches  long,  an  inch  and  a  half  to  two  inches 
broad,  and  are  borne  on  slender  petioles  half  an  inch  in  length.  When  bruised  they  are 
more  fragrant  than  those  of  any  species  of  Magnolia  with  which  I  am  acquainted,  exhaling  the 
delicate  odor  of  anise-seed.  The  winter  flower-bud  is  two  thirds  of  an  inch  long,  rather 
obtuse,  and  protected  by  a  thick  coat  of  yellow-white  hairs.  The  flowers  of  this  tree  are  not 
known  to  botanists,  but  from  the  shape  and  character  of  the  winter-buds  they  are  probably  of 
good  size  and  produced  in  early  spring  before  the  appearance  of  the  leaves.  The  fruit  is 
slender,  flesh-color,  an  inch  and  a  half  to  two  inches  long,  and  half  an  inch  broad. 

Magnolia  salicifolia 1  grows  on  Mount  Hakkoda  in  low  wet  situations,  generally  near 
streams,  and  is  evidently  a  moisture-loving  plant.  In  November  I  found  a  single  small  plant 
of  this  species  near  the  town  of  Fnkushima,  on  the  hills  which  rise  above  the  valley  of  the 
Kisogawa,  not  far  from  the  base  of  Mount  Ontake,  in  central  Japan.  Magnolia  salicifolia  is 
new  to  cultivation,  and  we  were  fortunate  in  obtaining  a  good  supply  of  seeds,  by  means  of 
which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  this  interesting  tree  will  soon  appear  in  gardens. 

Among  the  Magnolias  of  Japan  there  is  no  evergreen  species  which  resembles  the  great 
evergreen  Magnolia  of  our  southern  states,  or  at  all  equals  it  in  the  beauty  of  flowers  and 
foliage  ;  and  the  nearest  approach  to  an  evergreen  Magnolia  in  the  empire  of  the  Mikado  is 
the  representative  of  a  closely  allied  genus,  Michelia,  differing  from  Magnolia  in  the  position 
of  the  flowers,  which,  instead  of  being  terminal  on  the  branches,  are,  except  in  the  case  of 
one  Indian  species,  axillary  ;  and  in  the  number  of  ovules  and  seeds,  of  which  there  are  two 
in  each  carpel  of  Magnolia  and  more  than  two  in  each  carpel  of  Michelia.  A  dozen  species 
are  known,  inhabitants  of  southern  and  southwestern  Asia,  including  the  islands  of  the  Indian 
Archipelago,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  Chinese  Michelia  fuscata  (or  as  it  is  habitually 
called  in  our  southern  states,  Magnolia),  which  is  cultivated  for  its  exceedingly  fragrant  small 
flowers  in  all  warm  temperate  countries,  the  genus  is  not  seen  in  American  or  European 
gardens. 

The  Japanese  species,  Michelia  compressa2  (see  Plate  v.),  as  it  appears  in  the  Botanic 
Garden  of  the  University  of  Tokyo,  is  a  tree  thirty  to  forty  feet  in  height,  with  a  trunk 
twelve  to  eighteen  inches  in  diameter,  covered  with  smooth  dark  bark,  and  rather  slender 
branches  which  form  a  compact  handsome  round-topped  head.  The  winter-buds  and  the 
branchlets  during  their  first  year  are  clothed  with  soft  ferruginous  or  pale  hairs ;  in  their 
second  season  the  branchlets  are  slender,  light  or  dark  brown,  marked,  especially  near  their 
extremities,  with  large  pale  lenticels,  and  conspicuous  from  the  raised  nearly  circular  leaf -scars. 
The  leaves  are  oblong  or  narrowly  obovate,  gradually  contracted  into  long  slender  petioles, 
and  are  rounded  or  short-pointed  at  the  apex,  entire,  coriaceous,  conspicuously  reticulate- 
veined,  and  dark  green  and  lustrous  on  the  upper,  and  pale  and  dull  on  the  lower  surface ; 
they  are  three  or  four  inches  long,  an  inch  to  an  inch  and  a  half  broad,  with  petioles  an 

1  Magnolia  salicifolia,  Maximowicz,  Mel.  Biol.  viii.  509.  —          2  Magnolia     (Michelia)    compressa,    Maximowicz,    Mel. 
Franchet  &  Savatier,  Enum.  PI.  Jap.  i.  16.  Biol.  viii.  506.  —  Francket  &  Savatier,  Enum.  PI.  Jap.  i.  15. 

Biirgeria  (?)  salicifolia,  Siebold  &  Zuccarini,  Fl.  Jap. 
Fam.  Nat.  i.  187.  —  Miquel,  Prol.  Fl.  Jap.  144. 


12  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAX. 

inch  in  length,  and  fall,  when  a  year  old.  after  the  appearance  of  the  new  shoots.  The  flowers, 
which  are  very  fragrant,  are  from  an  inch  to  an  inch  and  a  quarter  across  when  expanded, 
with  pale  yellow  narrow  ohovate  sepals  and  petals,  nearly  sessile  anthers,  and  a  stipitate 
head  of  pistils,  the  ovaries,  according  to  Maximowicz,  each  containing  five  or  six  ovules. 
The  cone  of  fruit  is  two  inches  long,  and  is  raised  on  a  stalk  half  an  inch  or  more  in  length  : 

O 

the  rusty  brown  thick-walled  carpels,  which  are  marked  with  large  pale  circular  dots,  usually 
containing  three  seeds  ;  these  arc  broadly  ovate  and  much  flattened  l>v  mutual  pressure. 

Michelia  compressa,  which  is  the  most  boreal  species  of  its  genus,  was  discovered  near 
Nagasaki  by  Maximowic/.,  who  saw  a  single  tree.  Oldham,  an  English  botanist,  collected  it 
near  the  base  of  Fuji-san,  doubtless  from  a  cultivated  tree,  and  it  is  said  to  be  found  in 
several  places  in  the  extreme  southern  part  of  the  empire,  although  I  have  never  seen  it 
except  in  the  Botanic  Garden  of  Tokyo,  where  there  are  several  large  trees,  from  which  were 
collected  the  specimens  figured  in  our  illustration.  It  is  not  improbable  that  Michelia  is  at 
the  northern  limit  of  its  range  in  Japan  and  that  it  will  be  found  to  be  more  at  home  on 
the  Loochoo  Islands  or  on  Formosa  when  the  interesting  flora  of  these  islands  is  carefully 

O  . 

explored.  The  fact  that  Michelia  compressa  flourishes  in  Tokyo,  where  our  southern  ever- 
green Magnolia  hardly  survives,  indicates  that  it  may  perhaps  be  grown  as  far  north  as 
Washington  and,  possibly.  Philadelphia,  in  southern  England  and  Ireland,  and  on  the  west 
coast  of  France,  that  is.  in  regions  where  no  other  species  of  this  genus  can  exist  in  the  open 
ground,  and  where  broad-leaved  evergreen  trees  are  rare  and  much  desired. 

The  Japanese  Illicium  is  a  beautiful  and  interesting  plant.  It  is  the  representative  of  a 
genus  with  two  species  in  our  southern  states  and  half  a  dozen  others  in  India  and  southern 
China,  one  of  which,  Illicium  verum,  supplies  the  star  anise  of  the  pharmacists.  Illicium 
anisatum.  or  as  it  should,  perhaps,  be  called,  Illicium  religiosum,  is  a  beautiful  small  evergreen 
tree,  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  high,  with  brilliant  persistent  leaves  and  small  fragrant  yellow 
flowers.  It  is  one  of  the  sacred  plants  of  Japan.  Sicbold  considered  it  a  native  of  China  or 
Corea  and  an  introduction  by  Buddhist  priests  into  Japan.  This  may  be  the  correct  view, 
although  Japanese  botanists  now  believe  it  to  be  a  native  of  the  southern  part  of  the  empire, 
where  Rein  found  it,  as  he  supposed,  growing  wild.  Sacred  to  Buddha,  it  is  alwavs  planted 
in  the  neighborhood  of  his  temples,  and  is  common  in  private  gardens  as  far  north  as  the 
thirty-fifth  degree  of  latitude.  The  branches  of  this  tree,  especially  when  it  is  in  flower,  are 
used  to  decorate  the  altars  in  the  temples,  or  in  cemeteries  serve  to  mark  the  respect  of  the 
living  for  the  dead.  From  the  powdered  bark,  mixed  with  resin,  are  prepared  the  "smoke 
candles"  with  which  incense  is  made  in  the  temples,  and  with  which  the  "  moxa  "  is  burned 
on  the  human  body  as  a  sovereign  cure  for  many  of  its  ills. 

The  remaining  Japanese  plants  of  the  Magnolia  family,  Kadsura  and  Schizandra,  are 
woody  climbers,  Kadsura  Japonica  is  the  type  of  a  genus  consisting  of  seven  or  eight  species, 
all  natives  ot  southern  and  western  Asia,  and  its  most  northern  member  growing  spontane- 
ously in  the  southern  islands  and  at  the  sea-level  in  Hondo  as  far  north  as  the  thirty-iifth 
degree  ol  latitude.  The  flowers  are  not  showy,  but  it  is  a  plant  of  extraordinary  beauty  in 
the  autumn,  when  the  clusters  of  scarlet  fruit  are  ripe,  their  brilliancy  being  heightened  by 
contrast  with  the  dark  green  lustrous  persistent  leaves.  There  is  a  fine  specimen  of  this  plant 


PLATE  V. 


C.  K.  FAXON-  del. 


MICHEUA   COMPRESSA,   MAXM. 


THE  MAGNOLIA  FAMILY.  13 

in  the  garden  attached  to  the  Agricultural  College  at  Tokyo ;  but  I  have  never  seen  it  in  any 
other,  although  it  might  well  be  grown  wherever  the  climate  is  sufficiently  mild  to  enable  it 
to  produce  fruit. 

Schizandra  is  familiar  to  American  botanists  as  one  species,  the  type  of  the  genus,  Schi- 
zandra  coccinea,  inhabits  our  southern  states ;  in  Japan  two  species  occur,  and  one  of  these, 
Schizandra  Chinensis,  which  grows  also  in  Manchuria,  carries  the  Magnolia  family  farther 
north  than  any  of  its  other  members.  It  is  a  vigorous  plant,  with  long  twining  stems,  and 
small  unisexual  white  flowers,  followed  by  clusters  of  brilliant  red  berry-like  fruits,  which  in 
September  and  October  enliven  the  forests  of  Hokkaido,  where  this  plant  is  extremely  common. 
Schizandra  Chinensis  is  now  well  established  in  our  gardens,  flowering  freely  every  year, 
although  in  the  neighborhood  of  Boston  it  has  not  ripened  its  fruit. 

The  second  species,  Schizandra  nigra,  is  much  less  common  in  Japan  than  Schizandra 
Chinensis,  from  which  it  may  be  distinguished  by  its  broader  leaves,  larger  flowers,  and  by  its 
blue-black  fruit  and  pitted  seeds.  It  grows  in  southern  Yezo,  where,  however,  I  failed  to 
find  it.  Mr.  Veitch  collected  it  in  September  at  Fukura,  on  the  west  coast  of  Hondo,  and  at 
the  end  of  October  I  found  a  single  plant  near  Fukushima,  on  the  Nakasendo,  in  central 
Japan,  from  which  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  gather  a  few  ripe  seeds ;  this  interesting  plant 
has  not  yet  been  brought  under  cultivation. 

The  forests  of  Japan  are  distinguished  by  the  presence  of  a  small  family  related  to  the 
Magnolias,  and  composed  of  three  genera,  Cercidiphyllum  and  Trochodendron,  which  are 
monotypic  and  endemic  to  Japan,  and  Euptelea,  which  has  also  a  representative  in  the  Hima- 
laya forests.  The  plants  of  this  genus  are  principally  distinguished  from  the  Magnolias  by 
their  generally  dioecious  minute  flowers,  which  are  either  entirely  destitute  of  a  perianth  or  are 
furnished  with  a  membranaceous  four-lobed  calyx.  For  this  family  the  name  of  Trochoden- 
dracece  has  been  proposed.1 

Cercidiphyllum  Japonicum  is  the  most  important  tree  of  this  family,  and  the  largest  and 
one  of  the  most  interesting  deciduous  trees  of  Japan,  which  more  than  any  other  of  its  inhab- 
itants gives  to  the  forests  of  Yezo  their  peculiar  appearance  and  character  (see  Plate  vi.). 
Here  it  inhabits  the  slopes  of  low  hills  and  selects  a  moist  situation  in  deep  rich  soil,  from 
which  the  denseness  of  the  forest  and  the  impenetrable  growth  of  dwarf  Bamboos,  which 
covers  the  forest-floor,  effectually  check  evaporation.  In  such  situations  the  Cercidiphyllum 
attains  its  greatest  size,  often  rising  to  the  height  of  a  hundred  feet,  and  developing  clusters 
of  stems  eight  or  ten  feet  through.  Sometimes  it  forms  a  single  trunk  three  or  four  feet  in 
diameter  and  free  of  branches  for  fifty  feet  above  the  ground ;  but  more  commonly  it  sends 
up  a  number  of  stems  which  are  united  together  for  several  feet  into  a  stout  trunk,  and 
then  gradually  diverge.  The  trunk  of  a  typical  Cercidiphyllum  of  this  form  appears  in  the 
frontispiece  of  this  work ;  it  is  the  reproduction  of  a  photograph  made  on  a  hill  near  Sapporo, 
and  represents  a  large  but  by  no  means  an  exceptionally  large  trunk,  which  at  three  feet 
above  the  ground  girted  twenty-one  feet  and  six  inches. 

In  Cercidiphyllum  the  leaves  on  sterile  shoots  are  either  alternate  or  opposite ;  in  their 
axils  small  acute  red  buds,  covered  with  four  to  six  thin  scarious  slightly  imbricated  scales, 

1  Engler  &  Prautl,  Pflanzenfam.  iii.  pt.  ii.  21. 


14  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

are  formed  early  in  the  autumn.  The  branchlet  ends  during  the  winter  in  a  small  orbicular 
scar  between  two  buds  when  the  leaves  are  opposite,  and  at  the  side  of  a  single  bud  when 
the  leaves  are  alternate.  Early  in  the  following  spring  the  buds  develop  short  spur-like 
almost  obsolete  branches,  which  produce  a  single  leaf  and  terminal  flowers.  Later  a  bud 
is  formed  in  the  axil  of  the  leaf  which,  on  fruit-bearing  trees,  appears  between  the  leaf  and 
the  stalk  of  the  fruit-cluster.  The  branches,  therefore,  in  their  second  and  third  years, 
appear  to  be  clothed  with  opposite  or  alternate  leaves,  although  the  leaves  are  in  reality 
produced  on  lateral  branches.  The  leaves  are  involute  and  coated  on  the  lower  surface  in 
the  bud  with  pale  caducous  pubescence,  and  are  furnished  with  lanceolate  acute  caducous 
stipules  slightly  connate  toward  the  base.  The  staminate  and  pistillate  flowers  are  produced 
on  separate  individuals ;  the  staminate  are  subsessile,  solitary  or  fascicled,  the  pistillate  solitary 
and  pedunculate.  The  staminate  flower  is  composed  of  a  minute  scarious  calyx,  divided  to 
the  base  into  four  acute  apiculate  divisions,  and  of  an  indefinite  number  of  stamens ;  the 
filaments  are  slender,  elongated,  and  inserted  on  a  conical  receptacle  ;  the  anthers  are  oblong- 
lanceolate,  attached  at  the  base,  apiculate  by  the  prolongation  of  the  narrow  connective,  and 
two-celled,  the  cells  opening  longitudinally  throughout  their  length.  The  pistillate  flower  is 
composed  of  a  membranaceous  calyx  divided  into  four  unequal  sepals  laciniately  cut  on  the 
margins,  and  of  four  or  sometimes  of  five  or  six  carpels  inserted  by  their  oblique  bases  on  a 
prominent  pyramidal  receptacle ;  they  are  gibbous  and  acute  on  the  ventral  suture,  and 
straight  and  rounded  on  the  dorsal  suture,  and  are  gradually  narrowed  into  elongated  slender 
styles  stigmatic  on  their  inner  face  below  the  middle ;  the  ovules  are  inserted  in  two  rows  on 
the  placenta,  and  are  descending  and  anatropous.  The  fruit  is  a  cluster  of  two  to  six  more 
or  less  spreading  oblong  stipitate  follicles  tipped  with  the  persistent  styles,  and  splitting 
through  the  ventral  suture,  which  by  a  twist  usually  becomes  external.  The  pericarp  is  thick, 
light  brown,  and  lustrous,  and  separates  into  two  layers ;  the  outer  layer  is  thin  and  mem- 
branaceous, and  the  inner  layer  is  hard  and  woody,  and  lustrous  on  the  inner  surface.  The 
seeds,  which  are  closely  imbricated  in  two  rows,  are  pendulous,  compressed,  nearly  square, 
attached  obliquely,  and  covered  with  a  thin,  light  brown  membranaceous  coat,  which  is 
produced  into  an  elongated  terminal  wing  three  times  as  long  as  the  body  of  the  seed  and 
slightly  narrowed  at  the  apex.  The  embryo  is  axile  in  copious  fleshy  albumen,  with  plane 
cotyledons  about  as  long  as  the  slender  superior  radicle  turned  toward  the  liilnm. 

The  trunk  of  Cercidiphyllum  Japonicum  is  covered  with  thick  pale  bark,  deeply  furrowed, 
and  broken  into  narrow  ridges.  Similar  bark  covers  the  principal  branches ;  these  are  very 
stout,  and  issuing  from  the  stem  nearly  at  right  angles,  gradually  droop,  the  slender  red- 
dish branchlets  in  which  they  end  being  often  decidedly  pendulous.  The  upper  branches 
and  branchlets  are  erect,  the  whole  skeleton  of  the  tree  showing,  even  in  summer,  through  the 
sparse  small  nearly  circular  leaves,  which  are  placed  remotely  on  the  branches ;  in  the  autumn 
the  leaves  turn  clear  bright  yellow.  In  port  and  in  the  general  appearance  of  its  foliage, 
Cercidiphyllum,  as  it  appears  in  the  forests  of  Yezo,  might,  at  first  sight,  be  mistaken  for  a 
venerable  Ginkgo-tree,  which  in  old  age  has  the  same  habit,  with  pendulous  branches  below 
and  erect  branches  above ;  but  the  trunk  and  its  covering  are  very  different  in  the  two  trees. 

Cercidiphyllum  Japonicum  is  distributed  from  central  Yezo  southward  through  nearly  the 


I 


fei 

o 


a 

— 


« 


THE  MAGNOLIA   FAMILY.  15 

entire  length  of  the  Japanese  islands.  At  the  north  it  grows  at  the  sea-level,  and  is  very 
common,  but  on  the  main  island  it  is  confined  to  high  elevations,  and  is  rare.  Except  in 
Yezo,  it  seldom  grows  more  than  twenty  or  thirty  feet  high,  and  I  never  saw  it,  in  Hondo, 
below  5,000  feet  elevation,  where,  as  at  Yumoto,  in  the  Nikko  Mountains,  it  is  scattered 
through  the  lower  borders  of  the  Hemlock  forest. 

Cercidiphyllum  Japonicum  is  a  valuable  timber-tree,  producing  soft  straight-grained  light 
yellow  wood,  which  resembles  the  wood  of  Liriodendron,  although  rather  lighter  and  softer, 
and  probably  inferior  in  quality.  It  is  easily  worked,  and  in  Yezo  is  a  favorite  material  for 
the  interior  finish  of  cheap  houses  and  for  cases,  packing-boxes,  etc.  From  its  great  trunks 
the  Ainos  hollowed  their  canoes,  and  it  is  from  this  wood  that  they  make  the  mortars  found 
in  every  Aino  house  and  used  in  pounding  grain.  In  New  England,  where  there  are  now 
trees  twenty  feet  high,  Cercidiphyllum  is  very  hardy,  and  grows  rapidly ;  in  its  young  state  it 
is  nearly  as  fastigiate  in  habit  as  a  Lombardy  Poplar,  the  trunk  being  covered  from  the 
ground  with  slender  upright  branches  that  shade  it  from  the  sun,  which  seems  injurious  to 
this  tree,  at  least  while  young.  As  an  ornamental  plant,  Cercidiphyllum  is  only  valuable  for 
its  peculiar  Cercis-like  leaves,  which,  when  they  unfold  in  early  spring,  are  bright  red,  and  for 
its  peculiar  habit,  as  the  flowers  and  fruit  are  neither  conspicuous  nor  beautiful  (see  Plate 
vii.). 

Of  the  other  Japanese  trees  of  this  family,  Euptelea  polyandra  is  the  least  desirable  as  an 
ornamental  plant,  and  it  will  probably  never  be  very  much  cultivated  except  as  a  botanical 
curiosity.  It  is  a  small  tree  twenty  to  thirty  feet  in  height,  with  a  slender  straight  trunk 
covered  with  smooth  pale  bark,  stout  rigid  chestnut-brown  branchlets,  marked  with  white 
spots,  and  wide-spreading  branches,  which  form  an  open,  rather  unsightly  head.  The  leaves 
are  thin,  prominently  veined,  bright  green,  sometimes  five  or  six  inches  long  and  broad,  nearly 
circular  in  outline,  and  deeply  and  very  irregularly  cut  on  the  margins,  with  long,  broad, 
apical  points;  they  are  borne  on  long  slender  petioles,  and  turn  to  a  dull  yellow-brown  color 
before  falling.  The  minute  flowers  appear  in  early  spring  before  the  leaves,  and  are  produced 
in  three  or  four-flowered  clusters  from  buds  formed  early  in  the  previous  autumn.  They  have 
neither  sepals  nor  petals,  and  consist  of  a  number  of  slender  stamens  surrounding  the  free 
clustered  carpels.  The  fruit,  which  ripens  in  November,  is  not  more  showy  than  the  flowers ; 
it  is  a  small  stalked  samara  half  an  inch  long,  and  furnished  with  an  oblique  marginal 
membranaceous  wing.  The  handsomest  thing  about  this  tree  is  the  winter-bud,  which  is 
obtuse,  half  an  inch  long,  and  covered  with  imbricated  scales,  which  are  bright  chestnut- 
brown,  and  as  lustrous  as  if  they  had  been  covered  with  a  coat  of  varnish.  Euptelea  poly- 
andra is  found  in  the  mountainous  forests  of  central  Japan,  usually  on  the  banks  or  in  the 
neighborhood  of  streams  between  2,000  and  3,000  feet  above  the  sea-level,  but  does  not 
appear  to  be  anywhere  very  common. 

The  third  genus  of  this  family,  Trochodendron,  like  Euptelea,  produces  flowers  without 
sepals  and  petals.  The  only  species,  Trochodendron  aralioides,  is  a  small  handsome  glabrous 
evergreen  tree,  with  alternate  broadly  rhoniboidal  crenulate  penniveined  leaves,  four  or  five 
inches  long ;  they  are  borne  on  elongated  stout  petioles,  and  are  clustered  at  the  extremities 
of  the  branches.  The  flowers  are  produced  in  short  terminal  racemes,  and  consist  of  numerous 


16  FOREST  FLOEA   OF  JAPAN. 

anthers  raised  on  slender  filaments  and  surrounding  the  carpels,  which  are  connate  in  a 
vertical  series,  and  ripen  into  a  small  fleshy  drupe  crowned  with  the  remnants  of  the  persistent 
styles.  Trochodendron  is  a  tree  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  feet  in  height,  and  is  said  to  be 
very  common  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  although  I  never  saw  it  growing  wild ;  and  it  is 
certainly  not  an  inhabitant  of  the  alpine  forests  or  of  Hokkaido,  as  stated  in  some  works  on 
the  Japanese  flora,  although,  perhaps,  it  occurs  in  northern  Hondo  at  the  sea-level,  as  it  is 
hardy  in  the  gardens  of  Nikko  at  an  elevation  of  2,000  feet  above  the  ocean.  Trochodendron 
aralioides  is  often  cultivated  by  the  Japanese,  and  fine  specimens  of  this  tree  are  found  scat- 
tered through  public  and  private  gardens  in  Tokyo  and  Yokohama. 


PLATE  VII. 


C.  K.  FAXON  del. 


CERCIDIPHYLLUM  JAPONICUM,  SIKB  ET.  Zucc. 


THE   TERNSTRCEMU,    LINDEN,   AND   RUE   FAMILIES. 

THE  chiefly  tropical  family,  Ternstrueuiiaceae,  which,  in  North  America,  is  represented  only 
by  Gordonia  and  Stuartia,  trees  and  shrubs  o£  the  southern  states,  in  Japan  appears  in  eight 
genera,  in  which  are  a  number  of  interesting  plants,  although  none  of  them  become  very  large 
trees.  Of  these,  Camellia  Japonica  is  horticulturally  the  most  important,  for  its  relative, 
Camellia  theifera,  the  Tea-plant,  is  evidently  a  Chinese  or  Assam  introduction,  and  not  a  native 
of  Japan.  In  southern  Japan  the  Camellia  is  a  common  forest-plant  from  the  sea-level  to  an 
altitude  of  2,500  feet,  on  the  east  coast  growing  as  far  north  as  latitude  thirty-six,  and  nearly 
two  degrees  farther  on  the  west  coast.  Here  it  is  a  dwarf  bush  only  two  or  three  feet  high, 
although  where  the  soil  and  climate  favor  it,  the  Camellia  becomes  a  tree  thirty  or  forty  feet 
tall,  with  a  handsome  straight  trunk  a  foot  in  diameter,  covered  with  smooth  pale  bark  hardly 
distinguishable  from  that  of  the  Beech.  In  its  wild  state  the  flower  of  the  Camellia  is  red, 
and  does  not  fully  expand,  the  corolla  retaining  the  shape  of  a  cup  until  it  falls.  In  Japan, 
certainly  less  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  improvement  of  the  Camellia  than  in  Europe  and 
America,  although  double-flowered  varieties  are  known ;  and  as  an  ornamental  plant  it  does 
not  appear  to  be  particularly  popular  with  the  Japanese ;  it  is  sometimes  planted,  however,  in 
temple  and  city  gardens,  especially  in  Tokyo,  where  it  is  not  an  uncommon  plant,  and  where 
beautiful  old  specimens  are  to  be  seen. 

Tsubaki,  by  which  name  Camellia  Japonica  is  known  in  Japan,  is  more  valued  for  the  oil 
which  is  pressed  from  its  seeds  than  for  the  beauty  of  its  flowers.  This  oil,  which  the  other 
species  of  Camellia  also  produce,  is  used  by  the  women  in  dressing  their  hair,  and  is  an  article 
of  much  commercial  importance.  The  wood  of  Camellia  is  close-grained,  moderately  hard, 
and  light-colored,  turning  pink  with  exposure ;  it  is  cut  into  combs,  although  less  valued  for 
this  purpose  than  boxwood,  and  is  manufactured  into  numerous  small  articles  of  domestic  use. 
Sasan-kuwa,  Camellia  Sasanqua,  a  small  bushy  tree  of  southern  Japan  and  China,  is  perhaps 
more  commonly  encountered  in  Japanese  gardens  than  the  Tsubaki,  and  in  the  first  week  of 
November  it  was  just  beginning  to  open  its  delicate  pink  flowers  in  the  gardens  of  Nikko, 
although  the  night  temperature  was  nearly  down  to  the  freezing  point. 

Ternstrcemia  Japonica  and  Cleyera  ochnacea  are  small  bushy  trees  scattered  from  India  to 
southern  Japan,  where  they  are  considered  sacred  by  votaries  of  the  Shinto  religion,  and  are 
therefore  planted  in  the  grounds  of  Shinto  temples  and  in  most  private  gardens.  The  ever- 
green foliage  of  these  two  plants  is  handsome,  especially  that  of  Ternstrremia,  but  the  flowers 
and  fruit  possess  little  beauty,  and  they  owe  their  chief  interest  to  their  association  with 
Japanese  civilization. 

Eurya  Japonica  is  another  member  of  the  family,  of  wide  range  from  Ceylon  and  India  to 
China,  the  Fejee  Islands,  and  Japan,  where  it  is  exceedingly  common  in  the  southern  islands 
and  in  Hondo  as  far  north,  at  least,  as  the  Hakone  Mountains.  It  is  usually  a  shrub  only  a 


18  FOREST  FLORA   OF  JAPAN. 

few  feet  high ;  but  I  saw  a  specimen  in  the  woods  surrounding  a  temple  near  Nakatsu-gawa, 
on  the  Nakasendo,  which  was  fully  thirty  feet  in  height,  with  a  well-formed  trunk  nearly  a 
foot  in  diameter.  Eurya,  although  not  particularly  handsome,  is  interesting  from  the  color  of 
the  leaves,  which  are  yellowish  green  on  the  upper  surface  and  decidedly  yellow  below. 

Stuartia  is  represented  in  eastern  America  by  two  handsome  shrubs,  one  an  inhabitant  of 
the  coast  region  of  the  south  Atlantic  states,  and  the  other  of  the  southern  Alleghany  Moun- 
tains ;  in  Japan  there  are  two  and,  perhaps,  three  species.  Of  these,  Stuartia  monadelpha, 
which  inhabits  also  central  China,  appears  to  be  a  southern  plant  only ;  at  any  rate,  I  saw 
nothing  of  it  in  Japan,  nor  of  the  little  known  Stuartia  serrata  of  Maximowicz.  The  third 
species,  Stuartia  Pseudo-Camellia,  is  common  on  the  Hakone  and  Nikko  Mountains  between 
2,000  and  3,000  feet  elevation,  where  it  is  a  most  striking  object  from  the  peculiar  appearance 
of  the  bark ;  this  is  light  red,  very  smooth,  and  peels  off  in  small  flakes  like  that  of  the  Crape 
Myrtle  (Lagerstrcemia) ;  to  this  peculiarity  it  owes  its  common  name,  Saru-suberi,  or  Monkey- 
slider.  Stuartia  Pseudo-Camellia  is  often  a  tree  of  considerable  size ;  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Chuzenji  we  measured  a  specimen  whose  trunk  at  three  feet  from  the  ground  girted  six  feet, 
and  which  was  upward  of  fifty  feet  high ;  and  specimens  nearly  as  large  are  common  on  the 
road  between  Nikko  and  Chuzenji.  The  flowers  of  this  tree,  which  resemble  a  single  white 
Camellia,  are  smaller  and  less  beautiful  than  the  flowers  of  our  coast  species,  Stuartia  Vir- 
ginica,  but  they  are  larger  than  those  of  the  second  American  species,  Stuartia  pentagyna,  a 
handsome  plant,  which  is  not  made  enough  of  in  our  northern  gardens,  where  it  is  perfectly 
hardy  and  one  of  the  best  of  the  summer-flowering  shrubs.  Stuartia  Pseudo-Camellia  was 
sent  to  America  nearly  thirty  years  ago  by  the  late  Mr.  Thomas  Hogg,  and  it  appears  to  have 
flowered  in  the  neighborhood  of  New  York  several  years  before  it  was  known  in  Europe, 
where  of  late  it  has  attracted  considerable  attention.1  In  New  England  this  Japanese  species 
appears  perfectly  hardy,  and  two  years  ago  it  flowered  in  the  Arnold  Arboretum. 

Stachyurus  praecox,  another  Japanese  member  of  this  family,  is  still  little  known  in  our 
gardens,  although  it  was  one  of  the  plants  sent  by  Mr.  Hogg  to  New  York  soon  after  the 
opening  of  Japan  to  foreign  commerce.  It  appears  hardy  in  the  neighborhood  of  New  York, 
as  there  is  at  least  one  plant  established  in  Prospect  Park,  on  Long  Island.  In  Japan  Stachyu- 
rus is  exceedingly  common  in  the  mountain  forests  and  at  the  sea-level  from  southern  Yezo  to 
Kyushu,  appearing  as  a  tall  graceful  shrub,  with  thin  semiscandent  branches  and  ovate- 
lanceolate  acute  leaves.  In  summer  or  early  autumn  it  forms  axillary  spikes  of  flower-buds 
two  or  three  inches  long,  and  in  very  early  spring,  before  the  appearance  of  the  leaves,  these 
buds  expand  into  bell-shaped  pale  yellow  flowers  ;  these  are  not  more  than  a  third  of  an  inch 
long,  but  they  are  produced  in  great  profusion,  and  as  they  appear  so  early  in  the  season 
Stachyurus  will  probably  prove  a  popular  plant  if  it  is  found  to  flourish  in  cultivation.  The 
genus  is  represented  in  central  China  and  in  the  Himalaya  Mountains  with  a  second  species 
described  as  a  small  tree. 

The  genus  Actinidia,  woody  climbers  of  the  Himalayas  and  eastern  Asia,  appears  in  Japan 
in  three  species,  of  which  two,  at  least,  are  exceedingly  common  and  conspicuous  features 
of  the  mountain  vegetation.  Of  these,  the  largest  and  most  common,  especially  at  the  north, 
1  See  Rev.  Hort.  1879, 430,  t.  —  Gard.  Chron.  ser.  4,  iv.  188,  f.  22.—  Bot.  Mag.  cxv.  t.  7045. 


THE  TERNSTE(EMIA,  LINDEN,   AND  RUE  FAMILIES.  19 

is  Actiniclia  arguta ;  little  need  be  said  of  this  handsome  plant,  as  it  is  now  common  and  well 
established  in  our  gardens,  where  it  grows  with  great  vigor  and  rapidity,  and  where  it  is  one 
of  the  best  plants  of  its  class.  We  have  heard  a  good  deal  of  the  value  of  the  fruit  of  this 
plant,  which  is  depressed-globular,  an  inch  across,  and  greenish  yellow ;  it  is  eaten  in  Japan, 
but  the  flavor  is  insipid,  and  its  merits  appear  to  have  been  exaggerated.  It  was  offered  for 
sale  in  the  streets  of  Hakodate  in  great  quantities,  but,  of  course,  green  and  hard,  as  the 
Japanese  use  all  their  fruit  before  it  ripens. 

Actinidia  polygama,  although  it  inhabits  Manchuria  and  Saghalin,  and  is  common  in  the 
forests  of  Hokkaido,  is  more  abundant  in  those  which  cover  the  mountains  of  central  Japan ; 
it  is  a  slenderer  plant  than  Actinidia  arguta,  with  elliptical  acute  slightly  serrate  long-stalked 
leaves.  The  fruit  is  an  inch  and  a  half  long,  half  an  inch  broad  in  the  middle,  and  narrowed 
at  both  ends;  it  is  canary-yellow,  rather  translucent,  soft  and  juicy,  with  an  extremely 
disagreeable  flavor.  Actinidia  polygama  does  not,  like  Actinidia  arguta,  climb  into  the  tops 
of  tall  trees ;  its  weaker  stems  tumble  about  and  form  great  tangles,  sometimes  twenty  feet  or 
more  across,  and  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  high.  The  most  remarkable  thing  about  this  plant 
is  that  in  summer  the  leaves  toward  the  ends  of  the  branches  become  pale  yellow,  either  over 
their  entire  surface  or  only  above  the  middle,  not  because  they  are  drying  up  or  ripening,  but 
apparently  from  an  insufficient  supply  of  chlorophyll.  The  effect  that  the  plants  produce  at 
this  time  is  curious  and  interesting,  and  when  seen  from  a  distance  growing  on  a  mountain- 
side or  on  the  banks  of  a  stream,  they  appear  like  huge  bushes  covered  with  pale  yellow 
flowers.  This  fine  plant  is  still  little  known  in  cultivation,  but  if  it  flourishes  in  New  England 
like  Actinidia  arguta  it  will  form  a  most  valuable  addition  to  our  shrubberies. 

Actinidia  Kolomikta,  which  is  found  also  in  Manchuria  and  northern  China,  is  much  less 
common  in  Japan  than  the  other  species.  I  saw  it  only  on  the  rocky  cliffs  of  a  hill  near 
Sapporo,  where  it  was  growing  with  Rhododendrons  and  Menziesia,  and  where  it  was  a  deli- 
cate, slender  vine,  with  stems  only  a  few  feet  in  length.  Unfortunately,  there  were  no  seeds 
to  be  obtained,  and  I  am  doubtful  if  this  species  has  ever  been  introduced  into  our  gardens, 
although  the  name  often  appears  in  nurserymen's  catalogues. 

In  the  forests  of  Japan  are  found  two  Lindens.  They  are  both  extremely  common  in 
Yezo,  but  in  the  other  islands  are  rare,  and  confined  to  mountain-slopes  of  considerable 
elevation.  The  larger  of  the  two,  Tilia  Miqueliana  (see  Plate  viii.),  is  a  handsome  tree,  often 
growing  in  central  Yezo  to  the  height  of  one  hundred  feet,  and  forming  a  trunk  four  or  five 
feet  in  diameter.  As  it  is  only  seen  crowded  among  other  trees  in  the  forest,  the  branches  are 
short,  and  the  head  is  oblong  and  rather  narrow.  The  bark,  like  that  of  all  the  Lindens,  is 
broken  by  longitudinal  furrows,  and  is  light  brown  or  dark  gray.  The  young  branchlets  are 
unusually  stout  for  a  Linden-tree,  and  in  their  first  season  are  covered,  as  are  the  large  ovate- 
obtuse  winter-buds,  with  hoary  tomentum.  The  leaves  are  deltoid  or  deltoid-obovate,  abruptly 
contracted  at  the  apex  into  broad  points,  obliquely  truncate  or  subcordate  at  the  base,  and 
coarsely  and  sharply  serrate  with  incurved  callous  teeth  ;  they  are  four  to  six  inches  long, 
three  or  four  inches  broad,  rather  light  green,  and  more  or  less  puberulous  on  the  upper 
surface,  and  pale  and  tomentose  on  the  lower,  especially  on  the  prominent  midribs  and  primary 
veins,  in  their  axils,  and  on  the  stout  petioles,  which  are  two  or  three  inches  in  length.  The 


20  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

peduncle-bract  is  rounded  at  the  apex,  sessile  or  short-stalked,  three  or  four  inches  long,  from 
one  third  to  two  thirds  of  an  inch  broad,  and,  like  the  slender  stems  and  branches  of  the 
flower-cluster  and  its  bractlets,  covered  with  pale  tomentum.  The  flowers  appear  in  Sapporo 
toward  the  middle  of  July.  Like  those  of  the  American  Lindens  and  of  two  species  of  eastern 
Europe,  Tilia  petiolaris  and  Tilia  argentea,  which  Tilia  Miqueliana  resembles  in  several  partic- 
ulars, the  flowers  are  furnished  with  petal-like  scales,  to  which  the  stamens,  united  in  clusters, 
are  attached.  The  sepals  are  ovate-acute,  tomentose  on  the  two  surfaces,  especially  on  the 
inner,  and  shorter  than  the  narrow  obovate  petals.  The  style,  like  the  stamens,  is  longer 
than  the  petals,  and  is  coated  at  the  base  with  thick  pale  hairs,  which  also  cover  the  ovary. 
The  fruit,  which  ripens  in  October,  is  ovate  to  oblong,  wingless,  and  nearly  half  an  inch  long. 
It  is  from  the  inner  bark  of  this  species  that  the  Aiuos  make  their  ropes. 

Tilia  Miqueliana 1  is  comparatively  little  known,  having  at  one  time  been  confounded  with 
Tilia  Mandshurica,  which  does  not  reach  Japan.  This  noble  tree  will  probably  thrive  in  the 
northern  states,  as  plants  which  have  been  growing  for  a  few  years  in  the  Arnold  Arboretum 
appear  perfectly  hardy.  In  Europe  it  is  cultivated  as  Tilia  Mandshurica  (Kew),  and  as  Tilia 
heterophylla  (Paris),  although  it  does  not  appear  to  be  much  better  known  there  than  it  is  in 
the  United  States. 

The  second  Japanese  Linden  is  a  small  tree,  rarely  growing  more  than  fifty  or  sixty  feet 
tall  in  Hokkaido,  where,  perhaps,  it  is  rather  less  abundant  than  Tilia  Miqueliana.  In  books 
it  appears  as  Tilia  cordata,  var.  Japonica  ;  but  Tilia  cordata  is  a  synonym  for  Tilia  ulmifolia, 
a  common  European  and  north  Asian  species,  so  that  unless  the  Japanese  plant  is  found 
specifically  distinct,  which  is  not  probable,  it  should  be  known  as  Tilia  ulmifolia,  var.  Japonica. 
It  is  a  round-headed  tree  with  dark  brown  bark,  slender  red-brown  branches,  glabrous,  like 
the  buds,  even  when  young,  and  marked  with  oblong  pale  lenticels.  The  leaves  are  broadly 
ovate  or  nearly  orbicular,  contracted  at  the  apex  into  short  or  long  broad  points,  and  usually 
cordate,  or  occasionally  oblique,  at  the  base,  and  sharply  serrate  with  incurved  callous  teeth ; 
they  are  membranaceous,  light  green  and  lustrous  on  the  upper  surface,  light  green,  pale,  or 
nearly  white  on  the  lower  surface,  which  is  marked  by  conspicuous  tufts  of  rufous  hairs  in  the 
axils  of  the  principal  veins,  three  or  four  inches  long,  and  two  or  three  inches  broad.  The 
peduncle-bract  is  from  three  to  three  and  a  half  inches  long,  and  half  an  inch  broad,  with  a 
slender  stalk  sometimes  an  inch  in  length.  The  stem  and  branches  of  the  flower-cluster  are 
slender  and^  glabrous.  The  sepals,  which  are  acute,  slightly  puberulous  on  the  outer  surface, 
ciliate  on  the  margins,  and  furnished  on  the  inner  surface  at  the  base  with  large  tufts  of  pale 
hairs,  are  shorter  than  the  narrow  acute  petals ;  the  ovary  is  clothed  with  white  tomentum. 
The  fruit  is  oblong,  or  slightly  obovate,  and  covered  with  rusty  tomentum.  The  petaloid- 
scales,  which  Maximowicz 2  found  developed  in  some  of  the  flowers  of  this  tree,  I  have  not 
seen. 

This  is  the  only  Linden  cultivated  by  the  Japanese,  who  occasionally  plant  it  in  temple 
gardens,  especially  in  the  interior  and  mountainous  part  of  the  empire.  It  was  introduced  in 

1  Tilia  Miqueliana,  Maximowicz,  Mel.  Biol.  x.  585. 

Tilia  Mandshurica,  Miquel,  Prol.  Fl.  Jap,  206  (in  part).  —  Franchet  &  Savatier,  Enum.  PL  Jap.  i.  67  (in  part). 
8  Mel.  Biol.  x.  585. 


PLATE  VIII. 


C  E.  FAXON  del. 


TILIA   MIQUELIANA,  MAXM. 


THE   TERNSTRCEMIA,   LINDEN,   AND  RUE  FAMILIES.  21 

1886  into  the  Arnold  Arboretum,  and  has  so  far  proved  hardy.  It  is,  however,  scarcely 
distinct  enough  from  the  European  plant  to  make  its  cultivation  as  an  ornamental  tree  particu- 
larly desirable. 

Elseocarpus,  a  genus  of  the  Linden  family  distributed  with  many  species  through  tropical 
Asia,  Australia,  and  the  Pacific  islands,  is  represented  in  Japan  by  two  fine  trees,  found  only 
in  the  extreme  southern  part  of  the  empire.  Of  these  I  saw  only  Elseocarpus  photinisefolia,  a 
noble  tree,  planted  in  the  gardens  of  a  temple  in  the  seashore  town  of  Atami,  where  there  are 
the  largest  Camphor-trees  in  Japan  and  good  specimens  of  a  number  of  other  southern  trees. 

The  Rue  family  has  a  number  of  woody  plants  in  Japan.  Of  these,  Skimmia  Japonica  is 
the  only  one  which  is  much  known  in  our  gardens,  although  Phellodendron  Amurense  and 
Orixa  Japonica  are  now  found  in  most  large  botanical  collections.  Evodia  rutsecarpa,  a  shrub 
or  very  small  tree,  with  large,  pinnate,  strong-smelling  leaves  and  terminal  heads  of  minute 
flowers,  although  not  at  all  handsome,  is  an  interesting  plant,  as  it  is  from  the  bark  that  the 
Japanese  obtain  the  yellow  pigment  which  they  use  in  dyeing.  For  this  purpose  the  bark, 
which,  with  the  exception  of  its  thin  brown  outer  coat  marked  with  pale  lenticels,  is  the  color 
of  gamboge,  is  torn  off  in  long  strips,  air-dried,  and  sent  to  the  large  cities.  Evodia  ruta3- 
carpa,  which  also  inhabits  central  China  and  the  Himalayas,  is  now  becoming  rare  in  Japan, 
and  I  saw  it  only  on  the  coast  near  Atami ;  it  is  said  to  be  still  abundant,  however,  in  Aidzu 
and  on  the  peninsula  of  Yamato.  The  scarlet  aromatic  fruit  is  used  by  the  Japanese  in 
medicine. 

In  Xanthoxylum  there  are  four  Japanese  species.  Of  these,  the  most  common,  and  the 
most  widely  distributed  at  the  north  and  in  the  mountainous  regions  of  the  main  island  at 
elevations  of  from  2,000  to  4,000  feet  above  the  sea,  is  Xanthoxylum  piperitum.  It  is  a 
bushy  shrub  with  many  slender  steins,  or  rarely  a  small  tree  with  a  well-developed  trunk  three 
or  four  inches  in  diameter  ;  it  is  always  a  handsome  plant,  with  dark  or  often  nearly  black 
branchlets  marked  by  pale  spots  and  armed  with  stout  straight  spines ;  with  narrow  unequally 
pinnate  leaves  of  about  six  pairs  of  ovate  pointed  leaflets,  very  dark  green  on  the  upper 
surface  and  pale  on  the  lower ;  with  small  inconspicuous  flowers  and  with  heads  of  handsome 
showy  fruit  four  to  six  inches  across ;  the  pods  are  rusty  brown ;  and  the  seeds,  which  do  not 
drop  for  some  time  after  the  pods  open,  are  black  and  lustrous.  The  fruits  of  this  plant  are 
gathered  in  large  quantities  by  the  Japanese  before  the  pods  open,  and  are  used  as  a  condiment 
and  in  cooking,  as  we  use  pepper.  In  Hakodate  and  other  northern  towns  it  is  commonly 
exposed  for  sale  throughout  the  year. 

A  nobler  plant  than  Xanthoxylum  piperitum,  and  certainly  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of 
the  genus,  is  Xanthoxylum  ailanthoides,  which  I  saw  only  on  the  Hakone  Mountains,  where  it 
is  abundant,  and  near  the  coast  at  Atami.  It  is  a  round-topped  broad-branched  tree,  some- 
times fifty  or  sixty  feet  tall,  with  a  trunk  twelve  to  eighteen  inches  in  diameter,  covered  with 
pale  bark,  upon  which  the  corky  excrescences  common  in  many  species  of  this  genus  are  well 
developed.  The  branchlets  are  stout  and  pale,  and  are  covered  with  shdrt  stout  spines.  The 
leaves  vary  from  eighteen  inches  to  four  feet  in  length,  and  are  unequally  pinnate,  with  about 
ten  pairs  of  lateral  leaflets  and  stout  red-brown  petioles;  the  leaflets  are  dark  green,  and 
conspicuously  marked  on  the  upper  surface  with  oil-glands,  pale  or  nearly  white  on  the  lower 


22  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

surface,  ovate-acute,  often  slightly  falcate,  long-pointed,  rounded  or  subcordate  at  the  base, 
finely  serrate,  stalked,  four  to  six  inches  long  and  two  to  four  inches  broad.  The  flowers, 
which  are  greenish  white  and  small,  and  inconspicuous  like  those  of  all  the  plants  of  this 
genus,  appear  on  the  Hakone  Mountains  at  the  end  of  August  or  early  in  September  in  clus- 
ters four  or  six  inches  across.  The  fruit  I  have  not  seen.  In  habit  and  in  foliage  this  is 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  trees  which  I  saw  in  Japan  ;  but  as  it  does  not  range  far  north  or 
ascend  to  the  high  mountains,  it  is  not  probable  that  it  will  prove  hardy  in  our  northern 
states.  The  other  Japanese  species  of  Xanthoxylum  are  shrubs  of  no  great  beauty  or  interest. 
Simaruba?,  a  mostly  tropical  family,  to  which  the  familiar  Ailanthus  of  northern  China 
belongs,  appears  in  Japan  only  in  Picrasma  quassioides,  a  member  of  a  small  tropical  Asian 
genus,  which,  as  an  inhabitant  of  Yezo,  seems  to  have  strayed  far  beyond  the  limits  of  its 
present  home.  As  Picrasma  quassioides  appears  in  the  forests  near  Sapporo,  it  is  a  slender 
tree  twenty  to  thirty  feet  in  height,  with  a  trunk  about  a  foot  in  diameter.  The  branchlets 
are  stout,  dark  red-brown,  and  conspicuously  marked  by  pale  lenticels.  The  leaves  are 
unequally  pinnate,  with  slender  reddish  petioles  and  four  or  five  pairs  of  lateral  leaflets,  which 
increase  in  size  from  the  lower  pair  to  the  uppermost ;  they  are  membranaceous,  very  bright 
green,  ovate-acute,  finely  serrate,  stalked,  three  to  five  inches  long,  and  an  inch  to  an  inch 
and  a  half  broad.  The  flowers,  which  are  produced  in  loose,  long-branched,  few-flowered, 
axillary  clusters,  are  yellow-green,  and  not  at  all  showy ;  but  the  drupe-like  fruit  is  bright 
red  and  handsome  in  September,  when  the  thickened  branches  of  the  corymb  are  of  the  same 
color.  It  is,  however,  for  the  beauty  of  the  color  of  its  autumn  foliage  that  Picrasma  quas- 
sioides should  be  brought  into  our  gardens.  The  leaves  turn  early,  first  orange  and  then 
gradually  deep  scarlet,  and  few  Japanese  plants  which  I  saw  are  so  beautiful  in  the  autumn 
as  this  small  tree,  which,  judging  from  its  northern  home  in  Japan,  may  be  expected  to 
flourish  in  our  climate.  It  is  a  plant  of  wide  distribution,  not  only  in  Yezo  and  Hondo,  but 
in  Corea  and  in  northern  and  central  China ;  it  occurs  on  Hongkong  and  Java,  and  is 
common  on  the  subtropical  Himalayas,  which  in  Garwhal  it  ascends  to  an  elevation  of  8,000 
feet  above  the  ocean.  To  the  bitterness  of  the  inner  bark,  which  in  this  particular  resembles 
that  of  the  Quassia-tree  of  the  same  family,  it  owes  its  specific  name. 


THE   HOLLY,   EVONYMUS,   AND   BUCKTHORN   FAMILIES. 

JAPAN  and  eastern  North  America  are  equally  rich  in  species  of  Holly,  there  being  thirteen 
or  fourteen  in  each  of  the  two  regions.  In  Japan,  however,  Hollies  grow  to  a  larger  size 
than  they  do  in  North  America,  there  being  eight  or  nine  trees  in  this  genus  in  the  Mikado's 
empire,  and  only  four  in  the  United  States ;  and  some  of  the  Japanese  Hollies  are  much 
larger  and  far  more  beautiful  than  any  of  our  species.  The  most  beautiful  of  them  ah1  is 
certainly  the  southern  Ilex  latifolia,  an  evergreen  tree  now  occasionally  seen  in  the  gardens  of 
southern  Europe,  where  it  was  first  carried  more  than  fifty  years  ago.  Although  a  native  of 
southern  Japan,  Ilex  latifolia  appears  perfectly  at  home  in  Tokyo,  where  it  is  often  seen  in 
large  gardens  and  temple  grounds,  and  where  it  occasionally  makes  a  tree  fifty  to  sixty  feet  in 
height,  with  a  straight  tall  trunk  covered  with  the  pale  smooth  bark  which  is  found  on  the 
stems  of  most  plants  of  this  genus.  The  leaves  are  sometimes  six  inches  long  and  three  or 
four  inches  broad,  and  are  very  thick,  dark  green,  and  exceedingly  lustrous.  The  large  scarlet 
fruit  of  this  tree,  which  does  not  ripen  until  the  late  autumn  or  early  winter  months,  and 
which  is  produced  in  the  greatest  profusion  in  nearly  sessile  axillary  clusters,  remains  on  the 
branches  until  the  beginning  of  the  following  summer.  Ilex  latifolia  is  probably  the  hand- 
somest broad-leaved  evergreen  tree  that  grows  in  the  forests  of  Japan,  not  only  on  account  of 
its  brilliant  abundant  fruit,  but  also  on  account  of  the  size  and  character  of  its  foliage.  It 
may  be  expected  to  prove  hardy  in  Washington,  and  will  certainly  flourish  in  the  southern 
Atlantic  and  Gulf  states. 

Ilex  integra  is  also  a  beautiful  and  distinctly  desirable  ornamental  tree,  often  cultivated  in 
the  temple  gardens  of  Japan,  where  it  frequently  reaches  a  height  of  thirty  or  forty  feet. 
The  leaves  are  narrow,  obovate,  three  or  four  inches  long,  and  apparently  quite  entire.  The 
fruit,  which  is  rather  long-stalked,  is  nearly  half  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  very  showy  during 
the  winter.  A  variety  of  this  species  (var.  leucoclada,  Maximowicz),  a  shrub  two  to  three  feet 
high,  with  narrower  leaves  and  smaller  fruit,  is  a  northern  form,  growing  as  far 'north  as 
southern  Yezo.  On  Mount  Hakkoda,  near  Aomori,  we  found  this  plant  in  full  flower  and 
with  ripe  fruit  on  the  2d  of  October,  and  secured  a  supply  of  the  seeds,  so  that  its  hardiness 
can  be  tested  in  the  northern  states.  It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that,  although  this 
plant,  and  several  other  broad-leaved  evergreen  shrubs,  including  two  or  three  species  of 
Holly,  grow  in  Japan  in  a  higher  latitude  than  Massachusetts,  they  are  protected,  as  Maximo- 
wicz has  already  pointed  out,  during  the  winter  by  an  undisturbed  covering  of  snow,  and  are 
not  exposed,  therefore,  to  the  changes  of  climate  which  endanger  the  existence  of  many  plants 
in  eastern  America.  In  Japan,  moreover,  plants  do  not  suffer  from  the  summer  and  autumn 
droughts,  which  often  sap  their  vitality  in  the  United  States,  and  are  often  more  directly 
responsible  for  the  apparent  want  of  hardiness  of  many  plants  than  intense  winter  cold. 

A  third  Japanese  evergreen  species,  Ilex  rotunda,  is  also  occasionally  cultivated  by  the 


24  FOREST  FLORA   OF  JAPAN. 

Japanese,  although  I  saw  only  two  or  three  specimens  of  this  plant ;  these  were  handsome 
trees,  thirty  to  forty  feet  in  height,  with  well-formed  trunks  twelve  to  thirteen  inches  in 
diameter.  The  leaves  are  broadly  ovate  to  nearly  orbicular,  with  entire  thickened  margins, 
and  are  very  dark  green  and  lustrous,  although  not  thick  nor  very  coriaceous.  The  fruit  is 
smaller  than  that  of  the  two  species  already  mentioned,  and  rather  oblong  in  outline. 

A  very  distinct  evergreen  species,  Ilex  pedunculosa,  is  exceedingly  common  on  the  Naka- 
sendo,  the  great  central  mountain  road  of  Japan,  in  the  valley  of  the  Kisogawa.  This  plant 
is  sometimes  a  shrub  two  or  three  feet  in  height,  and  is  sometimes  twenty  or  thirty  feet  high, 
when  it  is  a  well-formed  tree,  with  a  narrow  round-topped  head.  The  leaves  are  lustrous, 
two  to  three  inches  long,  ovate-acute,  entire,  and  long-petiolate.  The  stems  of  the  flower- 
clusters,  from  which  is  derived  its  specific  name  and  which  are  longer  than  the  leaves,  hold 
the  large  bright-red  fruit,  which  is  solitary,  or  arranged  in  clusters  of  three  or  four,  well 
outside  the  leaves,  giving  to  the  plants  a  peculiar  and  beautiful  appearance  in  the  autumn. 
Occasionally  a  tree  of  this  species  was  seen  in  the  garden  of  an  inn  on  the  Nakasendo  ;  but  it 
is  evidently  little  known  or  cultivated  in  Japan,  and  apparently  has  not  been  introduced  into 
western  gardens.  Ilex  pedunculosa  will  certainly  flourish  in  western  and  southern  Europe, 
and  I  am  not  without  hope  that  it  will  survive  and  possibly  thrive  in  the  northern  United 
States,  as  in  Japan  it  is  found  at  high  elevations  in  a  region  of  excessive  winter  cold. 

Ilex  crenata  is  the  most  widely  distributed  and  the  most  common  of  the  Japanese  Hollies 
with  persistent  leaves ;  this  plant  is  abundant  in  Hokkaido,  on  the  foothills  of  Mount 
Hakkoda,  and  on  the  sandy  barrens  near  Giffu,  on  the  Tokaido ;  and  I  encountered  it  in 
nearly  every  part  of  the  empire  which  I  visited.  It  is  usually  a  low  much-branched  rigid 
shrub,  three  or  four  feet  high ;  but  in  cultivation  it  not  infrequently  rises  to  the  height  of 
twenty  feet,  and,  assuming  the  habit  of  a  tree,  is  not  unlike  the  Box  in  general  appearance. 
The  leaves,  which  are  light  green  and  very  lustrous,  vary  considerably  in  size  and  shape, 
although  they  are  rarely  more  than  an  inch  long,  and  are  usually  ovate-acute,  with  slightly 
crenate-toothed  margins.  The  black  fruit  is  produced  in  great  profusion,  and  in  the  autumn 
adds  materially  to  the  beauty  of  the  plant.  This  is  the  most  popular  of  all  the  Hollies  with 
the  Japanese ;  and  a  plant  usually  cut  into  a  fantastic  shape  is  found  in  nearly  every  garden. 
Varieties  with  variegated  leaves  are  common  and  apparently  much  esteemed.  Ilex  crenata 
and  several  of  its  varieties  with  variegated  foliage  were  introduced  into  western  gardens  many 
years  ago  and  are  occasionally  cultivated,  although  the  value  of  this  plant  as  an  under-shrub 
appears  to  be  hardly  known  or  appreciated  outside  of  Japan.  Of  the  broad-leaved  Japanese 
evergreens,  I  have  the  most  hope  of  success  with  Ilex  crenata  in  this  climate  ;  and  if  it  proves 
really  hardy  it  will  be  a  most  useful  addition  to  our  shrubberies. 

Ilex  Sugeroki,  another  evergreen  species  quite  unknown,  I  believe,  in  gardens,  may  be 
expected  to  thrive  in  Europe,  and  possibly  in  the  northern  United  States,  as  it  is  an  inhabitant 
of  southern  Yezo  and  northern  Hondo,  where  on  Mount  Hakkoda  we  found  it  in  fruit,  and 
were  able  to  secure  a  supply  of  the  seeds.  It  is  a  spreading  bush  five  or  six  feet  high,  with 
stout  branchlets,  light  green  ovate  leaves  an  inch  long,  rounded  at  the  apex  and  coarsely 
crenulate-toothed  above  the  middle,  and  with  bright  scarlet  long-stalked  solitary  fruit  half  an 
inch  in  diameter.  Ilex  Sugeroki  is  an  unusually  handsome  plant  in  the  autumn,  and  of  consid- 
erable horticultural  promise. 


THE  HOLLY,  EVONYMUS,   AND  BUCKTHORN  FAMILIES.         25 

Of  the  section  of  the  genus  with  deciduous  leaves  (Prinos),  represented  in  eastern  North 
America  by  the  familiar  Black  Alder  (Ilex  verticillata)  of  our  northern  swamps  and  by  the 
arborescent  Ilex  Monticola  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  there  are  several  species  in  Japan. 
The  largest  of  these,  Ilex  macropoda,  is  a  widely  distributed,  but  not  a  common  plant.  I  saw 
it  on  the  cliffs  at  Mororan  on  the  shores  of  Volcano  Bay,  on  the  hills  above  Nikkd,  and  on 
the  flanks  of  Mount  Koma-ga-take  in  central  Japan,  although  only  a  single  plant  in  each  of 
these  widely  separated  localities.  Ilex  macropoda  is  a  round-headed  tree,  twenty  to  thirty  feet 
in  height,  with  a  trunk  sometimes  a  foot  in  diameter.  It  is  a  well-shaped  handsome  tree,  with 
stout  branchlets  furnished  with  short  lateral  spurs  and  ample,  membranaceous,  ovate-acute, 
long-petioled  leaves  conspicuously  reticulate-veined,  which  turn  bright  clear  yellow  in  the 
autumn,  when  they  make  a  beautiful  contrast  with  the  bright  red  long-stalked  fruit,  which, 
although  not  very  large,  is  exceedingly  abundant.  Ilex  macropoda  grows  not  only  far  north, 
as  Professor  Miyabe  has  recently  written  me  of  its  discovery  in  the  neighborhood  of  Sapporo, 
but  in  the  most  exposed  situations  and  at  high  elevations ;  and  there  is  no  reason,  therefore, 
why  it  should  not  thrive  in  our  northern  states,  where  it  may  be  expected  to  add  considerably 
to  the  beauty  of  shrubberies  in  the  autumn  and  early  winter. 

A  much  more  common  plant  than  Ilex  macropoda  is  Ilex  Sieboldii,  although  this  species 
does  not  reach  Hokkaido  or  ascend  to  high  elevations  on  the  mountains  of  Hondo.  It  much 
resembles  our  North  American  Ilex  verticillata  and  Ilex  Isevigata,  although  much  less  beautiful 
than  either  of  these  species,  the  fruit  being  smaller  and  less  highly  colored.  Ilex  Sieboldii  is 
a  tall  spreading  shrub,  very  common  in  low  grounds  and  near  the  borders  of  streams,  with 
slender  stems  often  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  tall,  small  ovate-acute  sharply  serrate  conspicuously 
veined  leaves,  and  small  scarlet  fruit  clustered  on  the  short  lateral  spur-like  branchlets.  In 
the  autumn  the  leafless  branches  of  this  shrub  covered  with  fruit  are  sold  in  immense  quan- 
tities in  the  streets  of  Tokyo  for  the  decoration  of  dwelling-houses,  for  which  purpose  they 
are  admirably  suited,  as  the  berries  remain  on  the  branches  and  retain  their  color  for  a  long 
time.  Ilex  Sieboldii  was  introduced  many  years  ago  into  American  gardens  by  the  late 
Thomas  Hogg ;  it  is  an  old  inhabitant  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum,  where  it  now  flowers  and 
produces  its  fruit  every  year.  As  an  ornamental  plant,  however,  it  is  less  desirable  than  the 
related  American  species,  and  it  will  probably  only  be  cultivated  in  this  country  and  in 
Europe  as  a  curiosity,  or  in  botanic  gardens. 

The  other  Japanese  Hollies  with  deciduous  leaves,  Ilex  serrata,  which  is  closely  related  to 
and  resembles  Ilex  Sieboldii,  and  Ilex  geniculata,  a  rare  shrub  of  the  high  mountains,  with 
black  fruit,  I  was  not  fortunate  enough  to  find. 

The  flora  of  Japan  is  rich  in  Evonymus,  there  being  no  less  than  nine  species  found  within 
the  limits  of  the  empire.  Of  these  the  best  known  in  our  gardens  is  the  evergreen  Evonymus 
Japonicus,  now  cultivated  in  all  temperate  countries,  and  its  climbing  variety  usually  known 
as  Evonymus  radicans.  Evonymus  Japonicus  is  a  small  tree  generally  distributed  at  low 
elevations,  and  more  common  in  the  south  than  at  the  north,  although  it  grows  naturally  in 
the  cold  climate  of  southern  Yezo,  where,  however,  it  does  not  attain  a  large  size,  and  where 
its  presence  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  thick  covering  of  snow  which  protects  it  in  winter. 
The  scandent  variety  is  a  hardier  plant  found  carpeting  the  ground  under  the  forests  of 


26  FOREST  FLORA   OF  JAPAN. 

Hokkaido,  and  in  the  mountain  regions  of  Hondo  climbing  high  on  the  trunks  of  trees,  which 
it  encircles  with  great  masses  of  lustrous  foliage  borne  on  stout  branches  standing  out  at  right 
angles  sometimes  to  the  length  of  several  feet ;  the  leaves  vary  from  an  inch  to  four  or  five 
inches  in  length  and  correspondingly  in  width,  and  show  the  connection  of  the  climbing  plant 
with  the  arborescent  type. 

There  is  a  second  arborescent  Evonymus  in  Japan,  a  variety  of  the  widely  distributed 
and  variable  Evonymus  Europseus,  to  which  the  name  var.  Hamiltonianus  is  given.  This 
handsome  plant,  with  stout  branchlets,  large  leaves,  and  showy  fruit,  was  introduced  from 
Japan  several  years  ago  by  the  late  Thomas  Hogg,  and  it  is  now  well  established  in  the 
Arnold  Arboretum,  where  it  flowers  and  fruits  freely.  It  is  one  of  the  commonest  of  the 
Japanese  species  in  all  mountain  regions,  and  grows  at  least  as  far  north  as  central  Yezo, 
where  it  becomes  a  tree  twenty  to  thirty  feet  in  height. 

Evonymus  alatus,  a  variable  plant  in  the  development  of  the  wings  on  the  branches,  to 
which  it  owes  its  specific  name,  and  in  the  size  of  the  leaves  and  fruit,  in  some  of  its  forms,  is 
also  very  abundant  in  the  north  and  on  the  mountains  of  central  Japan.  The  wing-branched 
variety,  which  is  the  only  deciduous-leaved  Evonymus  which  I  saw  in  Japanese  gardens,  where 
it  is  rather  a  favorite,  is  now  well  known  in  those  of  the  United  States  and  of  Europe,  where 
it  is  valued  for  the  peculiar  pink  color  the  leaves  assume  in  very  late  autumn.  The  variety 
subtriflora,  a  more  northern  plant,  with  slender  terete  branchlets  and  small  fruit,  is,  I  believe, 
unknown  in  gardens.  It  is  one  of  the  commonest  shrubs  in  the  mountain  forests  of  Japan, 
and  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Chuzenji,  in  the  Nikko  Mountains,  I  saw  it  rising  to  the  height  of 
fifteen  or  eighteen  feet,  with  slender  diverging  stems. 

In  northern  Japan  there  are  three  other  species  of  Evonymus,  all  tall  shrubs,  with  large 
leaves  and  large  showy  fruit  suspended  on  long  slender  stalks,  which  may  be  expected  to 
thrive  in  our  climate,  and  to  be  decided  acquisitions  in  our  shrubberies.  Of  these  Evonymus 
Nipponicus  and  Evonymus  oxyphyllus  produce  globose  fruit,  and  Evonymus  macropterus 
more  or  less  broadly  winged  fruit. 

Of  Celastrus  nothing  need  here  be  said  of  the  now  well-known  Celastrus  articulatus,  which 
is  one  of  the  commonest  plants  on  the  mountains  of  Japan,  except  that  its  leafless  branchlets, 
covered  with  fruit,  are  sold  in  the  autumn  in  great  quantities  in  all  Japanese  towns,  where 
they  are  used  in  house  decoration,  for  which  purpose  they  are  admirably  suited,  as  the  bright- 
colored  fruit  remains  on  them  for  many  weeks.  The  second  Japanese  species,  Celastrus 
flagellaris,  I  saw  only  in  the  Botanic  Garden  in  Tokyo,  where  there  is  a  single  small  plant;  it 
is  a  common  Manchurian  species,  but  appears  to  be  exceedingly  rare  in  Japan.  I  judge  that 
it  has  no  particular  horticultural  value. 

Half  a  dozen  genera  of  Rhamnacea?  are  included  in  the  flora  of  Japan,  among  them  Zizy- 
phus,  perhaps  an  introduced  plant,  often  cultivated  as  a  fruit-tree ;  Berchemia  racemosa,  a 
twining  shrub  with  long  slender  branches,  very  ornamental  during  the  last  weeks  of  summer, 
when  the  half-ripened  fruit,  which  is  produced  in  large  terminal  clusters,  is  bright  red ;  two  or 
three  species  of  Rhamnus,  of  no  horticultural  value,  and  the  curious  tree,  Hovenia  dulcis,  an 
inhabitant  also  of  China  and  the  Himalaya  region,  and  in  Japan  often  cultivated  for  the  thick- 
ened sweetish  fruit-stalks,  which  are  edible,  although  insipid  in  flavor,  and  which  enjoy  among 


THE  HOLLY,  EVONYMOUS,  AND  BUCKTHORN  FAMILIES.        27 

the  Japanese  a  certain  reputation  for  curative  properties.  Hovenia  was  first  introduced  into 
Europe  eighty  years  ago,  and  is  occasionally  seen  in  the  gardens  of  southern  France  and 
Italy  and  of  our  middle  states.  In  general  appearance  this  tree,  which  is  sometimes  thirty 
or  forty  feet  in  height,  is  not  unlike  a  large-leaved  Pear-tree,  and  as  an  ornamental  plant 
possesses  little  value. 


THE   MAPLE   FAMILY. 

IN  arborescent  plants  of  the  family  of  Sapinclaceae,  Japan  is  richer  than  eastern  America, 
owing  to  the  multiplication  of  species  of  Maple  in  the  former  country.  ^Esculus,  on  the 
contrary,  which  finds  its  headquarters  in  North  America,  where  there  are  five  species,  appears 
in  Japan  in  only  one,  —  ^Esculus  turbinata.  This,  however,  is  a  noble  tree,  —  one  of  the 
largest  and  stateliest  of  all  Horse-chestnuts.  In  the  forests  of  the  remote  and  interior  moun- 
tain regions  of  central  Hondo,  at  elevations  between  2,000  and  3,000  feet,  Horse-chestnuts, 
eighty  to  one  hundred  feet  tall,  with  trunks  three  or  four  feet  in  diameter,  are  not  uncommon. 
These  were  perhaps  the  largest  deciduous  trees  which  I  saw  on  the  main  island  growing  natu- 
rally in  the  forest,  that  is,  which  had  not  been  planted  by  men,  and  their  escape  from  destruc- 
tion was  probably  due  to  their  inaccessible  position  and  to  the  fact  that  the  wood  of  the 
Horse-chestnut  is  not  particularly  valued  by  the  Japanese.  In  habit  and  in  the  form,  venation, 
and  coloring  of  the  leaves,  the  Japanese  Horse-chestnut  resembles  the  Horse-chestnut  of  our 
gardens,  the  Grecian  J^sculus  Hippocastanum,  and  at  first  sight  it  might  easily  be  mistaken 
for  that  tree,  but  the  thyrsus  of  flowers  of  the  Japanese  species,  which  is  ten  or  twelve  inches 
long  and  only  two  and  a  half  to  three  inches  broad,  is  more  slender ;  the  flowers  are  smaller 
and  pale  yellow,  with  short,  nearly  equal  petals  ciliate  on  the  margins ;  and  the  fruit  is  that 
of  the  Pavias,  being  smooth  and  showing  no  trace  of  the  prickles  which  distinguish  the 
true  Horse-chestnuts.  The  Japanese  Horse-chestnut  reaches  southern  Yezo,  finding  its  most 
northern  home  near  Mororan,  on  the  shores  of  Volcano  Bay,  at  the  level  of  the  ocean ;  it  is 
generally  distributed  through  the  mountainous  parts  of  the  three  southern  islands,  sometimes 
ascending  in  the  south  to  an  elevation  of  4,000  or  5,000  feet.  There  seems  to  be  no  reason 
why  this  tree,  which  has  already  produced  fruit  in  France,  should  not  flourish  in  our  northern 
states,  where,  as  well  as  in  Europe,  it  is  still  little  known.  In  northern  Japan  the  fruits  are 
exposed  for  sale  in  the  shops,  although  they  are  probably  used  only  as  playthings  for  the 
children. 

To  the  Maples  the  forests  of  Japan  owe  much  of  their  variety,  beauty,  and  interest.  Not 
less  than  twenty  species  are  known  in  Japan,  while  in  all  of  North  America  there  are  only 
nine,  with  six  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  continent.  None  of  the  Japanese  Maples,  however, 
grow  to  the  size  of  real  timber-trees,  or  can  be  compared  in  massiveness  and  grandeur  with 
some  of  the  American  species,  which  are  unrivaled  in  size  and  beauty  by  the  Maples  of  any 
other  part  of  the  world. 

Some  of  the  Japanese  Maples  are  exceedingly  common  and  form  a  conspicuous  feature  of 
the  forest  vegetation,  and  others  are  rare  and  confined  to  comparatively  small  regions.  Sev- 
eral of  the  species  I  did  not  see  at  all,  and  of  others  only  one  or  two  isolated  individuals.  The 
most  common  of  the  Japanese  Maples,  and  the  largest,  is  Acer  pictum,  a  handsome  small  tree, 
not  unlike  our  Sugar  Maple  in  general  appearance ;  it  is  one  of  the  most  abundant  trees  in 


THE  MAPLE  FAMILY.  29 

the  forests  of  Hokkaido,  where  it  occasionally  attains  the  height  of  fifty  feet,  and  forms  a 
trunk  eighteen  inches  in  diameter.  It  is  a  tree  of  wide  and  general  distribution  in  Japan, 
Manchuria,  China,  and  northern  India,  and  even  in  Japan  varies  remarkably  in  the  size  and 
pubescence  of  the  five  to  seven-lobed  leaves  truncate  at  the  base,  and  in  the  size  and  shape  of 
the  fruit.  This  tree  must  be  extremely  beautiful  in  May,  when  the  yellow  flowers  are  just 
opening,  for  the  large  lengthened  inner  scales  of  the  winter-buds  are  then  bright  orange- 
color  and  very  showy.  The  autumn  coloring  of  the  leaves  I  did  not  see ;  it  is  described  as 
yellow  and  red. 

Of  more  interest  to  the  lovers  of  novelties  is  Acer  Miyabei  (see  Plate  ix.),  the  latest 
addition  to  the  list  of  Japanese  Maples.  It  is  a  tree  thirty  to  forty  feet  in  height,  with 
a  trunk  twelve  to  eighteen  inches  in  diameter,  covered  with  pale  deeply  furrowed  bark, 
spreading  branches  which  form  a  round-topped  handsome  head,  and  stout  branchlets  orange- 
brown  in  their  first,  and  ashy  gray  in  their  second  season.  The  leaves  are  five-lobed  by 
narrow  sinuses,  with  acute  entire  irregularly  two  to  three-lobed  divisions,  and  are  cordate  or 
almost  truncate  at  the  base,  five-ribbed,  conspicuously  reticulate-veined,  puberulous  on  the 
ribs  and  in  their  axils  on  the  upper  surface,  and  more  or  less  covered  with  ferrugineous  pubes- 
cence on  the  lower  surface,  especially  on  the  ribs  and  veins ;  they  are  dark  green  above,  pale 
below,  and  four  or  five  inches  long  and  broad,  and  are  borne  on  stout  petioles  enlarged  at 
the  base,  two  to  seven  inches  in  length,  and  thickly  coated  while  young  with  pale  hairs,  which 
also  cover  the  unfolding  leaves.  The  flowers,  which  are  yellow,  are  produced  on  slender  pedi- 
cels in  few-flowered,  short-stalked  corymbs.  The  sepals  and  petals  are  narrow,  obovate,  acute 
and  ciliate  on  the  margins ;  in  the  male  flowers  the  stamens,  composed  of  filiform  filaments 
and  minute  ovate  anthers,  are  inserted  between  the  lobes  of  a  conspicuous  disk,  and  are  longer 
than  the  petals  ;  the  pistil  is  minute  and  rudimentary  ;  in  the  fertile  flowers  the  stamens  are 
rudimentary  and  shorter  than  the  ovary,  which  is  coated  with  long  white  hairs.  The  style, 
which  is  described  as  somewhat  shorter  than  the  revolute  stigmas,  is  caducous.  The  fruit  is 
two  inches  long,  with  broad  puberulous  nutlets  diverging  at  right  angles  to  the  stem,  and 
thin,  slightly  falcate,  conspicuously  veined  wings.  This  fine  tree,  which  is  closely  related  to 
the  European  Acer  platanoides,  was  discovered  a  few  years  ago  in  the  province  of  Hidaka,  in 
Hokkaido,  by  Professor  Kingo  Miyabe,  the  accomplished  professor  of  botany  in  the  college  at 
Sapporo  and  the  author  of  an  important  work  on  the  flora  of  the  Kurile  Islands,  in  whose 
honor  it  was  named  in  1888  by  Maximowicz.1 

On  the  18th  of  September  we  stopped  quite  by  accident  to  change  cars  at  the  little  town  of 
Iwanigawa,  a  railroad  junction  in  Yezo,  some  forty  or  fifty  miles  from  Sapporo,  and,  having  a 
few  minutes  on  our  hands,  strolled  out  of  the  town  to  a  small  grove  of  trees  in  the  hope  that 
they  might  prove  interesting.  In  this  grove,  occupying  a  piece  of  low  ground  on  the  borders 
of  a  small  stream,  and  chiefly  composed  of  Acer  pictum,  our  Japanese  guide  recognized  at  a 
glance  a  number  of  fine  trees  of  Acer  Miyabei  covered  with  fruit,  and  surrounding  the  house 
of  an  officer  of  the  Imperial  Forest  Department,  who  had  been  living  for  years  in  entire 
ignorance  of  the  fact  that  he  was  enjoying  the  shade  of  one  of  the  rarest  trees  in  Japan. 
The  find  was  a  lucky  one,  for  Iwanigawa  is  a  long  way  from  the  station  where  this  species 

1  Mel.  Biol.  xii.  725. 


30  FOEEST  FLOE  A    OF  JAPAN. 

had  been  discovered,  and  mature  fruit  had  not  been  seen  before ;  and  from  these  trees  I 
obtained  later  from  Professor  Miyabe  a  supply  of  seeds  large  enough  to  make  this  Maple 
common  in  the  gardens  of  this  country  and  of  Europe,  in  which  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  it  will  flourish. 

In  the  forests  of  Yezo  eight  other  species  of  Maple  occur.  Among  them,  growing  only  in 
the  extreme  north  and  on  the  high  mountain-slopes,  are  a  variety  of  our  Mountain  Maple,  Acer 
spicatum,  so  like  the  New  England  form  of  this  common  tree  that  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish 
the  two  plants,  and  Acer  Tataricum,  var.  Ginnala,  a  common  Manchurian  tree,  not  rare  in 
northern  Japan,  where  it  grows  in  low  wet  ground,  near  the  borders  of  streams.  This  little 
tree  is  now  well  established  in  American  gardens,  in  which  it  might  be  seen  more  often 
to  advantage,  as  its  flowers  are  very  fragrant,  and  the  leaves  of  few  trees  take  on  more 
splendid  autumnal  colors.  In  Yezo,  too,  Acer  capillipes  has  been  found ;  this  is  a  species 
with  small  racemose  flowers,  and  thin  delicate  nearly  circular  lobed  leaves,  deeply  cut  on  the 
margins.  On  Mount  Hakkoda,  in  northern  Hondo,  where  Acer  capillipes  is  extremely  abun- 
dant at  elevations  of  2,000  to  3,000  feet  above  the  sea,  we  found  it  in  October,  growing  as  a 
stout  bush  or  bushy  tree,  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  in  height,  with  delicate  canary-yellow  leaves, 
and  secured  a  supply  of  ripe  seeds. 

In  Yezo,  Acer  Japonicum  and  Acer  palmatum  are  both  common  ;  these  species,  next  after 
Acer  pictum,  are  the  most  generally  distributed  Maples  in  Japan,  and  the  only  species  which 
the  Japanese  cultivate  at  all  commonly.  They  are  both  small  trees,  rarely,  if  ever,  exceeding 
a  height  of  fifty  feet,  and  both,  as  is  well  known,  vary  remarkably  in  the  size,  form,  and 
cutting  of  their  leaves.  A  few  of  the  varieties  of  Acer  palmatum,  particularly  the  one  on 
which  the  leaves  are  divided  into  narrow  lobes,  and  the  one  with  pendulous  branches,  are 
favorites  in  Japan,  where  few  of  the  numerous  and  monstrous  forms  of  this  tree,  with  which 
we  have  become  familiar  of  late  years  in  this  country,  are  seen  outside  of  nursery-gardens 
with  foreign  connections.  Of  these  two  trees  the  autumn  foliage  of  Acer  Japonicum  appears 
the  more  brilliant ;  and  some  individuals  of  this  species  which  we  saw  in  October,  high  up 
on  Mount  Hakkoda,  were  as  beautiful  in  color  as  a  good  American  Scarlet  Maple.  These 
two  trees  have  not  proved  very  satisfactory  in  this  country,  where  they  have  a  way  of  dying 
in  summer  without  apparent  cause.  This  is  due,  perhaps,  to  the  fact  that  nearly  all  the  plants 
brought  here  have  been  raised  from  degenerate  nursery-stock,  obtained  in  or  near  the  treaty 
ports ;  and  it  will  be  interesting  to  watch  the  behavior  here  of  plants  raised  from  seed  gath- 
ered in  the  forests  of  Yezo.  For  us  these  Maples  have  the  advantage  of  retaining  their  leaves 
later  in  the  autumn  than  our  species,  which  are  bare  of  foliage  before  the  Japanese  trees 
assume  their  brilliant  colors ;  and  this  is  true  of  many  other  Japanese  and  Chinese  plants,  like 
Ampelopsis  tricuspidata  and  Spiraea  Thunbergii,  for  the  autumn  in  eastern  Asia  is  fully  a 
month  later  than  it  is  in  this  country. 

Acer  carpinifolium,  which  is  occasionally  seen  in  our  gardens,  is  evidently  extremely  rare 
in  Japan.  There  are  a  few  plants  in  one  of  the  temple  gardens  in  Nikkd,  and  I  saw  a  single 
wild  specimen  hanging  over  the  bank  of  a  stream  in  the  mountains  above  Fukushima,  on  the 
Nakasendo,  and  was  fortunate  in  obtaining  from  it  a  good  supply  of  seeds.  In  Nikko,  Acer 
carpinifolium  is  a  handsome  round-topped  tree,  perhaps  thirty  feet  tall.  It  is  well  worth 


PLATE  IX. 


C.  E.  Ftxos  del. 


ACER  MIYABEI,  MAXM. 


THE  MAPLE  FAMILY.  31 

growing  for  its  beauty  as  well  as  for  the  unusual  form  of  the  leaves,  which  resemble  those  of 
the  Hornbeam,  for  which,  at  first  sight,  it  might  easily  be  mistaken. 

Acer  Tschonoskii  is  common  near  the  margins  of  Lake  Chuzenji  in  the  Nikko  Mountains, 
and  a  thousand  feet  higher  is  found  as  a  common  shrub  in  the  Hemlock  forests  which  cover 
the  slopes  rising  from  Lake  Yumoto.  It  is  a  small  bushy  tree,  perhaps  twenty  feet  tall,  with 
bright  red  twigs  and  ample  leaves,  not  unlike  those  of  Acer  capillipes  in  shape  and  cut- 
ting, although  in  autumn  they  turn  deep  scarlet.  We  could  not  find  a  single  seed  of  this 
pretty  plant,  which  has  probably  never  been  cultivated.  Acer  rufinerve,  hardly  distinguish- 
able from  the  Moosewood  of  our  northern  forests  (Acer  Pennsylvanicum),  and  Acer  cratsegi- 
folium,  both  familiar  now  in  our  gardens,  are  rather  common,  especially  the  latter,  in  all  the 
mountain  regions  of  central  Japan,  and  need  no  mention  here. 

Among  the  rarer  and  less  known  species  we  found  Acer  diabolicum  rather  common  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Nikko,  where  it  is  a  round-topped  tree  twenty  to  thirty  feet  tall,  very  like 
the  European  Sycamore  Maple  in  habit  and  general  appearance,  with  dull  yellow-green  leaves 
four  or  five  inches  across,  which  apparently  do  not  change  color  before  falling,  and  large 
dirty  brown  fruit  covered  on  the  nutlets  with  fine  stinging  hairs.  This  seemed  the  least 
beautiful  of  the  Maples  which  we  encountered  in  the  forests  of  Japan.  Acer  distylum  I  only 
saw  in  the  Botanic  Garden  in  Tokyo,  and  Acer  pycnanthum,  Acer  purpurascens,  Acer  argu- 
tum,  Acer  parvifolium,  and  Acer  Sieboldianum,  the  last,  probably,  only  a  pubescent-leaved 
variety  of  Acer  Japonicum,  I  looked  for  in  vain. 

Of  Maples  of  the  section  Negundo,  with  the  male  and  female  flowers  on  separate  plants  and 
pinnate  or  ternate  leaves,  there  are  two  species  in  Japan,  —  Acer  cissifolium  and  Acer  Niko- 
ense.  The  first  is  said  to  be  common,  and  widely  distributed  from  southern  Yezo  through 
the  mountain  ranges  of  the  main  island,  but  I  only  saw  a  few  small  plants  in  hedge-rows  near 
Nikko,  none  of  them  half  the  size  of  specimens  which  may  be  seen  in  some  Massachusetts 
gardens,  where  Acer  cissifolium  is  a  handsome  compact  round-headed  little  tree  with  slen- 
der graceful  leaves,  of  a  delicate  green  in  summer,  and  orange  and  red  in  late  autumn,  and 
where  it  is  one  of  the  most  distinct  and  satisfactory  of  the  Japanese  trees  which  have  been 
tried  in  our  climate. 

The  second  Japanese  Negundo  (see  Plate  x.),  as  it  appears  in  the  forests  of  Japan,  is  a 
distinct  and  beautiful  tree,  which,  if  it  thrives  in  this  country,  will  be  a  real  addition  to  our 
plantations.  Acer  Nikoense  grows  to  a  height  of  forty  or,  perhaps,  fifty  feet,  with  a  trunk 
twelve  to  eighteen  inches  in  diameter  covered  with  smooth  dark  slightly  furrowed  bark,  and 
stout  rather  slender  branches,  which  form  a  narrow  round-topped  head.  The  branchlets  are 
thick  and  rigid,  and  are  coated  at  first,  like  the  inner  scales  of  the  ovate-acute  winter-buds,  the 
young  leaf-stalks,  the  under  surface  of  the  young  leaflets,  the  peduncles  and  pedicels,  with 
short  thick  pale  or  rufous  villous  tomentum  ;  at  the  end  of  their  first  season  the  branchlets 
are  dark  red-brown  and  are  marked  with  numerous  minute  lenticular  dots.  The  leaves  are 
ternate,  with  stout  rigid  petioles  an  inch  or  an  inch  and  a  half  in  length,  and  ovate  or  obovate, 
acute,  long-pointed,  entire,  or  remotely  and  irregularly  coarsely  and  crenately  serrate  leaflets, 
the  terminal  leaflet  being  long-stalked,  symmetrical,  and  wedge-shaped  at  the  base,  the  lateral 
leaflets  rounded  on  the  lower,  and  oblique  on  the  upper  edge  at  the  base,  and  sessile  or  nearly 


32  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

so.     The  leaflets  are  thick  and  rather  rigfid,  two  and  a  half  to  five  inches  lonsr,  an  inch  and  a 

O         *  O' 

half  to  two  inches  broad,  conspicuously  reticulate  venulose,  dark  yellow-green  on  the  upper 
surface,  pale  and  coated  on  the  lower  surface  with  pubescence,  which  is  rufous  on  the  stout 
midribs  and  broad  straight  veins ;  or  sometimes  they  are  bright  green  on  the  lower  surface, 
and  glabrous,  except  on  the  midribs  and  veins.  In  the  autumn  the  leaflets  turn  brilliant 
scarlet  on  the  upper  surface,  but  remain  pale  on  the  lower.  The  flowers  are  yellow,  half  an 
inch  across,  and  nodding,  and  are  borne  in  short  few, usually  three-flowered,  subsessile  terminal 
corymbs  on  slender  graceful  pedicels.  The  sepals  and  petals  are  ovate  or  obovate,  rounded  at 
the  apex,  and  contracted  at  the  base  into  narrow  claws ;  in  the  sterile  flower,  in  which  the 
ovary  is  reduced  to  a  minute  rudiment,  the  stamens,  which  are  inserted  between  the  lobes  of 
the  conspicuous  disk,  are  exserted ;  the  filaments  are  filiform,  and  the  anthers  are  large  and 
oblong ;  in  the  fertile  flower  the  stamens  are  rudimentary,  and  not  longer  than  the  ovary, 
which  is  coated  with  thick  pale  tomentum  and  crowned  with  a  long  stout  style  with  revolute 
stigmas.  The  fruit  is  three  inches  long,  with  remarkably  thick  and  hard-walled  puberulous 
nutlets,  and  broad  falcate  diverging  or  converging  obovate  Avings  rounded  at  the  apex. 

Acer  Nikoense  is  not  a  common,  although  a  widely  distributed,  species.  I  saw  a  number 
of  plants  in  the  temple  grounds  of  Nikko  and  on  the  road  between  Nikko  and  Lake  Chuzenji, 
a  single  tree  near  Agematsu  on  the  Nakasendo,  and  ten  or  twelve  more  on  the  Yusui-toge 
above  Yokokawa.  According  to  Maximowicz,1  who  distinguished  this  tree  nearly  thirty 
years  ago,  it  grows  as  far  south  as  Nagasaki.  Acer  Nikoense  is  practically  unknown  in  gar- 
dens, although  a  well-grown  specimen  exists  in  the  Veitchian  collection  in  London,  and  a 
single  small  plant  was  sent  from  Japan  two  years  ago  to  the  Rixdorf  Nurseries  in  Berlin.  A 
figure  of  a  leaf  taken  from  this  plant  has  been  published  in  a  German  periodical. 

In  September  we  hunted  the  Nikko  hills  in  vain  for  a  seed-bearing  tree,  and  had  given  up 
all  hope  of  introducing  this  species.  One  day  late  in  October,  however,  we  sat  down  on  the 
rocks  in  the  bed  of  a  torrent  far  up  on  the  side  of  Mount  Koma-ga-take,  in  central  Japan,  to 
eat  our  luncheon,  when  our  attention  was  attracted  by  some  large  Maple-seeds  which  were 
new  to  us  floating  in  a  pool  at  our  feet.  A  search  on  the  bank  above  discovered  a  single  tree 
of  Acer  Nikoense,  from  which  the  wind  was  scattering  showers  of  seeds.  If  we  had  been  a 
day  later,  or  had  selected  another  resting-place,  we  should  have  missed  one  of  the  best  harvests 
we  made  in  Japan,  as  this  single  tree  yielded  at  least  half  a  bushel  of  good  seeds. 

If  Acer  Nikoense  proves  hardy  and  flourishes  in  our  gardens,  it  will  be  particularly 
remarked  for  the  brilliancy  of  its  autumn  leaves,  which  are  not  surpassed  in  beauty  by  those 
of  any  other  tree  which  I  saw  in  Japan,  and  which,  unlike  those  of  most  trees,  are  only  bright- 
colored  on  one  surface. 

1  Mel.  Biol.  vi.  370 ;  x.  609  ;  Bull.  Acad.  St.  Petersburg,  Acer  Maximowiczianura,  Miquel,  Arch.   Neer.  ii.  473, 

t.  76.  —  Franchet  &  Savatier,  Enum.  PL  Jap.  i. 90.—  Pax,        478. 
Bot.  Jahrb.  vii.  205  j  Gartenflora,  xli.  149. 


PLATE  X. 


C.  E.  FiXON  del. 


ACER  NIKOEXSE,  MAXM. 


THE   SUMACHS   AND   THE    PEA   FAMILY. 

IN  eastern  North  America  the  small  family  of  the  Sabiacese  has  no  representative, 
although  Meliosma,  which  is  mostly  a  tropical  and  subtropical  Asiatic  genus,  also  occurs  in 
Mexico  and  Central  America.  In  Japan  there  are  three  species  of  this  genus,  of  which  only 
one,  Meliosma  myriantha,  attains  the  size  of  a  tree.  This  species  grows  sometimes  to  the 
height  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet,  and  produces  slender  trunks  and  wide-spreading  branches ; 
its  large  thin  leaves,  which  are  sometimes  eight  inches  long  and  three  inches  broad,  of  a  light 
delicate  green,  are  its  chief  attraction  as  a  garden-plant,  for  the  flowers  of  Meliosma  are 
minute,  and  the  terminal  panicles  in  which  they  are  gathered  are  loose  and  long-branched. 
Only  a  small  portion  of  the  flowers  are  fertile,  so  that  the  fruit,  which  is  a  small  red  berry- 
like  drupe,  is  sparse  and  scattered  in  the  clusters,  and  not  at  all  showy.  This  plant  is  new,  I 
believe,  in  cultivation,  and  its  behavior  in  our  climate  will  be  watched  with  interest.  It  can 
hardly  be  hoped,  however,  that  Meliosma  myriantha  will  succeed  in  New  England,  as  in  Japan 
it  does  not  range  far  north,  and  in  central  Hondo,  where,  although  widely  distributed,  it  is 
not  common,  it  does  not  rise  much  above  2,500  feet  over  the  sea-level. 

From  the  Rhus  family  we  miss  in  Japan  the  Smoke-tree  (Cotinus),  a  familiar  European  and 
western  Asiatic  type,  represented,  too,  in  eastern  America  by  one  of  the  rarest  and  most  local 
of  all  our  trees.  Of  the  true  Rhuses  we  have  in  eastern  America  a  dozen  species,  including 
three  small  trees,  while  in  Japan  there  are  five  indigenous  species,  and  among  them  three 
which  can  properly  be  considered  trees.  The  Japanese  Lacquer-tree  (Rhus  vernicifera),  which 
has  played  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  development  of  the  mechanical  arts  of  China  and  Japan, 
and  which  is  certainly  the  most  valuable  plant  of  the  genus  to  man,  is  not  a  native  of  Japan, 
where  it  was  carried  long  ago  from  China,  and  although  much  cultivated,  especially  in  north- 
ern Hondo,  I  saw  no  indications  that  it  is  growing  spontaneously  or  anywhere  establishing 
itself  in  the  forest. 

The  Japanese  Rhuses  are  not  as  ornamental  in  the  autumn  as  our  Sumachs,  as  none  of 
them  bear  fruit  covered  with  the  long  red  hairs  which  give  to  the  fruit-clusters  of  the  Amer- 
ican plants  their  dense  appearance  and  brilliant  color ;  but  the  flowers  of  the  Asiatic  Rhus 
semialata,  a  common  small  tree  distributed  from  the  Himalayas  to  Japan,  which  are  white, 
and  produced  in  large  terminal  panicles,  are  much  more  beautiful  than  the  yellow-green  flow- 
ers of  any  of  our  Sumachs,  and  in  August  and  September,  when  this  tree  blossoms  in  Japan, 
it  is  a  striking  object  in  the  shrubby  coppice-growth  which  so  often  covers  the  low  mountain- 
slopes.  In  autumn  Rhus  semialata  is  one  of  the  most  brilliantly  colored  plants  of  the  Jap- 
anese forest ;  and  very  few  Japanese  plants  succeed  so  well  in  our  climate.  It  is  from  a  gall 
formed  on  the  leaf  of  this  tree  that  the  dye  with  which  married  women  in  Japan  discolor 
their  teeth,  as  a  sign  of  domestic  bondage,  is  obtained. 

Economically  a  more  important  tree,  as  from  it  the  Japanese  obtained  their  principal 


34  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

supply  of  artificial  light  before  the  introduction  of  American  and  Russian  petroleum,  Rhus 
succedanea  is  less  interesting  in  flower,  at  least,  than  Rhus  semialata  ;  it  is  a  southern  species, 
still  much  cultivated  on  the  southern  islands,  and  in  Tokyo  seen  only  in  gardens.  In  habit, 
•although  it  grows  to  a  larger  size,  it  much  resembles  our  Stag-horn  Sumach  ;  the  leaflets  are 
narrower,  the  flowers  are  produced  in  slender  few-flowered  clusters  pendulous  in  fruit ;  and 
the  drupes  covered  with  a  thick  coat  of  the  pale  waxy  exudation,  to  which  this  species  owes 
its  name  and  value,  are  much  larger.  Rhus  succedanea  will,  no  doubt,  flourish  in  the  south- 
ern states,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  it  will  prove  hardy  as  far  north  as  Philadelphia ;  it 
will  certainly  never  be  grown,  however,  in  the  United  States  for  the  wax  it  might  be  made  to 
yield,  and  as  an  ornamental  plant,  while  it  is,  of  course,  interesting,  it  is  inferior  to  the  Amer- 
ican Sumachs. 

Rhus  trichocarpa,  which,  so  far  as  I  know,  is  not  in  our  gardens,  should  be  cultivated  for 
the  extraordinary  beauty  and  brilliancy  of  the  leaves  in  autumn,  when  they  assume  the 
brightest  scarlet  and  orange  tints.  It  is  a  slender  tree,  sometimes  twenty  or  twenty-five  feet 
high,  and  very  common  in  the  forests  of  Yezo  and  on  the  mountains  of  central  Hondo.  The 
leaves  are  eighteen  to  twenty  inches  long,  with  dark  red  puberulous  midribs  and  broadly 
ovate  long-pointed  short-stalked  membranaceous  leaflets,  slender  panicles  of  flowers,  which 
open  in  July,  and  pendulous  fruit-clusters,  with  large  pale  prickly  drupes  ripening  in  August 
or  early  in  September.  Neither  the  flowers  nor  the  fruit  are  attractive,  and  there  is  nothing 
very  distinct  in  the  appearance  of  this  tree,  except  in  the  autumn,  when,  however,  it  is  so 
beautiful  that  if  it  succeeds  here  I  believe  it  will  prove  one  of  the  best  introductions  of  recent 
years. 

Of  the  poisonous  species  of  Rhus  I  did  not  see  the  pinnate-leaved  Rhus  sylvestris,  which 
is  said  to  be  a  small  shrub  and  a  native  of  the  southern  part  of  the  empire ;  on  the  Hakone 
Mountains,  where  it  is  reported  to  grow,  I  looked  for  it  in  vain ;  but  our  Poison  Ivy  is  one  of 
the  common  plants  in  all  the  central  parts  of  Hondo  and  in  Yezo,  where  it  grows  to  its  largest 
size  and  climbs  into  the  tops  of  the  tallest  trees.  The  leaves  of  the  Japanese  plant  are  larger 
than  they  usually  grow  on  the  American  form ;  they  are  thicker,  too,  and  more  leathery,  and 
turn  to  even  more  brilliant  autumn  colors,  often  to  deep  shades  of  crimson,  which  are  rarely 
seen  on  this  plant  in  America.  In  October  no  other  vine  is  so  handsome  in  Japan. 

Japan  is  remarkably  poor  in  arborescent  Leguminosse,  with  only  three  species  in  three 
genera,  while  here  in  eastern  America  there  are  twenty  species  in  a  dozen  genera.  The  best 
known  Japanese  tree  of  the  family  is  Albizzia  Julibrissin,  a  small  Mimosa-like  tree  which 
grows  from  Persia  to  Japan,  and  through  cultivation  has  become  naturalized  in  our  southern 
Atlantic  states  and  in  most  other  warm  temperate  countries.  Familiar  now  in  this  country  is 
Maackia  Amurensis,  which,  introduced  many  years  ago  from  the  valley  of  the  Amour,  is  now 
sometimes  cultivated  in  northern  gardens.  This  little  tree,  which,  under  favorable  conditions, 
rises  occasionally  to  the  height  of  thirty  or  forty  feet,  is  common  in  all  the  forest  regions  of 
northern  Japan,  and  is  not  rare  on  the  mountains  of  central  Hondo.  The  Japanese  form 
produces  larger  and  more  numerous  flower-spikes  and  larger  fruit  than  the  mainland  tree,  as 
we  see  it  in  this  country ;  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  it  will  prove  a  more  desirable  garden- 
plant.  In  Yezo,  the  wood,  which  is  hard,  close-grained,  and  pale  brown  in  color,  is  manufac- 
tured into  many  small  objects  of  domestic  use,  and  is  considered  valuable. 


PLATE  XL 


C.  E.  FAXON  del. 


GLEDITSIA   JAPONICA,  MIQ. 


THE  SUMACHS  AND   THE  PEA   FAMILY.  35 

The  third  Japanese  leguminous  tree  is  Gleditsia  Japonica,1  which,  in  most  essential  charac- 
ters, resembles  our  North  American  Gleditsia  triacanthos,  but  the  leaflets  are  broader  and 
more  lustrous,  and  the  bark,  instead  of  being  dark  brown,  is  quite  pale.  Although  it  does 
not  grow  to  the  great  size  of  the  American  species,  the  Japanese  Gleditsia  is,  perhaps,  a 
more  beautiful  tree.  It  is  (see  Plate  xi.)  a  tree  sixty  to  seventy  feet  in  height,  with  a  trunk 
occasionally  three  feet  in  diameter,  and  stout  branches  horribly  armed  with  flattened,  often 
branched  lustrous  red-brown  spines,  two  or  three  inches  in  length.  The  branchlets  are 
remarkably  stout  as  compared  with  those  of  our  species,  and  are  covered  with  bright  green 
bark,  marked  with  orange-colored  elevated  lenticular  spots.  The  leaves  are  ten  to  twelve 
inches  long,  with  broad  ovate-acute  remote  leaflets,  or  they  are  sometimes  bipinnate  as  on  our 
species,  with  smaller  leaflets.  The  male  flowers  (the  female  inflorescence  I  have  not  seen)  are 
very  similar  to  those  of  Gleditsia  triacanthos,  although  they  are  rather  larger  and  the  racemes 
are  longer  and  less  closely  flowered.  The  pods  are  compressed  and  thin-valved,  like  those  of 
our  northern  tree,  ten  or  twelve  inches  long  and  an  inch  and  a  half  broad,  but  the  seeds, 
instead  of  being  placed  close  to  the  ventral  suture  of  the  pod,  are  sometimes  nearer  the 
middle  and  surrounded  by  the  pulp,  which  is  more  abundant  in  the  Japanese  than  in  the 
American  species.  This  pulp  is  used  by  the  Japanese  in  washing  cloth,  and  long  strings  of 
the  pods  are  displayed  for  sale  in  many  towns  of  northern  Japan,  where  Gleditsia  Japonica 
grows,  not  very  abundantly,  according  to  my  observations,  near  the  banks  of  streams  at  the 
sea-level.  It  is  common,  and  reaches  its  largest  size  on  the  banks  of  the  Kisogawa  and  other 
streams  of  central  Japan,  at  an  elevation  of  some  two  thousand  feet.  Here  it  grows  sometimes 
close  to  the  water's  edge,  in  rich  humid  soil,  or  is  as  often  found  at  a  considerable  distance 
above  the  water,  growing  on  dry  gravelly  slopes.  By  Rein  this  tree  is  said  to  be  often 
planted  in  the  neighborhood  of  villages  in  Japan,  but  I  saw  no  specimens,  except  in  the 
scientific  gardens  of  Tokyo,  which  did  not  have  the  appearance  of  growing  naturally. 

As  an  ornamental  tree,  Gleditsia  Japonica,  as  it  appeared  on  the  mountains  of  Japan,  is  a 
more  beautiful  tree  than  any  of  the  species  common  in  cultivation,  and  it  may  be  expected  to 
become  a  valuable  addition  to  the  list  of  exotic  trees  suitable  for  the  decoration  of  the  parks 
and  avenues  of  the  United  States  and  Europe. 

1  Gleditsia  Japonica,  Miquel,  Prol.  Fl.  Jap.  242. —  Franchet  &  Savatier,  Enum.  PI.  Jap.  i.  114  ;  ii.  325.  —  Maximowicz, 
Mel.  Biol.  xu.  452. 


THE   ROSE   FAMILY. 

TREES  of  the  Rose  family  in  the  flora  of  Japan  are  not  numerous  as  compared  with  that 
of  eastern  America,  and  among  them  there  is  not  one  of  first-rate  value  as  a  timber-tree. 
Horticulturally  they  are  more  important,  and  Japanese  gardens  owe  much  of  their  interest  to 
species  of  Prunus.  Although  the  most  popular  garden-tree  in  Japan,  Primus  Mume  is  proba- 
bly not  Japanese  at  all,  but  a  native  of  Corea,  where  Mr.  Veitch  found  it  planted  as  a  shade- 
tree  along  the  borders  of  the  highroads.  This  is  the  tree  which  all  foreign  writers  upon 
Japan  speak  of  as  the  Plum,  although  it  is  really  an  Apricot.  In  cultivation  Prunus  Mume 
produces  white,  rose-colored,  or  red,  and  often  double  flowers,  which  appear  before  the  leaves 
in  February  and  March,  and  are  revered  as  harbingers  of  spring.  The  Mume  is  planted  in 
nearly  every  Japanese  garden  of  any  pretensions,  and  is  one  of  the  most  universally  used  pot- 
plants.  Care  and  labor  are  often  expended  in  producing  dwarfed,  contorted,  or  pendulous- 
branched  specimens,  which  sometimes  command  what  seem  exorbitant  prices. 

A  more  interesting  tree  than  Prunus  Mume  is  the  Japanese  Cherry,  Prunus  Pseudo-Cerasus, 
the  largest  tree  of  the  Rose  family  in  ^he  empire,  and,  next  to  the  Apricot,  more  cultivated 
for  flowers  by  the  Japanese  than  any  other  tree.  In  the  forests  of  Yezo,  Prunus  Pseudo- 
Cerasus  occasionally  rises  to  the  height  of  eighty  feet,  and  forms  a  trunk  three  feet  in  diam- 
eter. In  the  character  of  the  bark,  in  habit  and  general  appearance,  it  much  resembles  the 
European  Cherry,  the  wild  type  of  the  familiar  Cherry-tree  of  our  gardens  and  orchards,  and 
as  it  appears  in  the  forest  it  might  well  be  mistaken  for  that  species.  The  Japanese  Cherry  is 
common  in  Yezo  and  in  all  the  mountain  regions  of  Hondo  up  to  5,000  or  6,000  feet  above  the 
sea-level,  and  often  forms  a  considerable  portion  of  the  forest-growth,  although,  in  Hondo,  all 
large  trees  appear  to  have  been  cut.  In  the  early  autumn  it  is  conspicuous  in  the  landscape 
and  very  beautiful,  as  the  leaves  turn  deep  scarlet  and  light  up  the  forest  before  the  Maples 
assume  their  brightest  colors.  For  centuries  the  Japanese  have  planted  these  Cherry-trees 
in  all  gardens  and  temple  grounds,  and  often  by  the  borders  of  highways,  as  at  Mukojima, 
near  Tokyo,  where  there  is  an  avenue  of  them  more  than  a  mile  in  length  along  the  banks  of 
the  Sumi-da-gawa,  and  at  Koganei,  where,  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  10,000  Cherries  were 
planted  in  an  avenue  several  miles  long.  The  flowering  of  the  Cherry-tree  is  an  excuse  for  a 
holiday,  and  thousands  of  men,  women,  and  children  pass  the  day  under  these  long  avenues 
in  more  or  less  hilarious  contemplation  of  the  sheets  of  bloom.  The  flowers  of  the  wild  tree 
are  single,  white,  and  of  the  size  of  those  of  the  garden  Cherry,  but,  not  unnaturally,  many 
varieties  have  been  produced  during  the  centuries  it  has  been  a  garden-plant.  Bright  red 
and  pink  single-flowered  varieties  are  common  in  Japan,  as  well  as  many  double-flowered 
forms.  Of  these  several  have  been  introduced  into  this  country  and  Europe,  and  are  now 
well  known  in  our  gardens,  where,  however,  they  do  not  flower  as  freely  as  they  are  repre- 
sented to  flower  in  their  native  land.  Prunus  Pseudo-Cerasus  is  a  plant  of  cold  climates,  and 


PLATK  XII. 


C.  E.  FAXON  deL 


PRUNUS   MAXIMOWICZII,  RUPR. 


THE  HOSE  FAMILY.  37 

great  summer  heat  evidently  does  not  suit  it,  as  in  Tokyo  the  trees  never  grow  to  a  great  size, 
and  by  midsummer  are  leafless ;  so  that,  except  during  the  short  blooming  season,  the  exces- 
sive use  of  this  tree  is  a  real  injury  to  the  appearance  of  the  gardens  and  promenades  of  the 
capital  and  of  other  southern  cities. 

Prunus  Pseudo-Cerasus  is  of  some  value  as  a  timber-tree,  producing  hard,  close-grained  red 
wood,  which  is  hardly  to  be  distinguished  from  that  of  the  European  Cherry.  It  is  used  in 
considerable  quantities  for  all  sorts  of  wooden  dishes  and  other  small  articles  of  domestic  use. 
Rather  curiously,  perhaps,  no  attention  has  been  paid  to  improving  the  size  and  quality  of  the 
fruit,  which  is  not  larger  than  a  small  pea,  with  a  thin  layer  of  flesh. 

The  pendulous-branched  Cherry-tree,  with  precocious  pink  flowers,  now  common  in  our 
gardens,  where  it  is  known  as  Prunus  pendula,  is  often  cultivated  by  the  Japanese,  who, 
however,  do  not  appear  to  feel  the  same  regard  for  this  graceful  tree  that  the  Apricot  and  the 
Cherry  inspire.  I  never  saw  it  growing  wild,  and  cannot  refer  the  cultivated  plants  to  a  wild 
type.  Specimens  fifty  or  sixty  feet  high,  with  wide-spreading  fountain-like  heads,  are  not 
uncommon  in  old  temple  gardens  in  many  of  the  cities  of  Hondo.  This  beautiful  tree  thrives 
perfectly  in  our  climate,  and  in  early  spring,  when  its  branches  are  covered  with  its  pale  pink 
pendulous  flowers,  no  tree  is  more  beautiful. 

I  did  not  see  the  Cherries  in  bloom,  and  most  of  them  had  dropped  their  fruit  before  I 
reached  Japan ;  several  species  described  by  botanists  I  did  not  see  at  all,  and  of  several 
others  I  obtained  a  very  superficial  idea  ;  and  there  is  evidently  still  much  to  be  learned  of 
the  proper  limitation  of  described  east  Asian  species  and  varieties,  and  of  their  geographical 
distribution.  Among  the  little  known  species,  Prunus  Maximowiczii  (see  Plate  xii.,  made 
from  material  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  Professor  Miyabe),  seems  to  deserve  the  attention 
of  horticulturists. 

As  I  saw  it  in  Yezo,  Prunus  Maximowiczii l  is  a  tree  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet  in  height, 
with  a  slender  trunk  and  branches  covered  with  smooth  pale  or  light  red  bark.  The  young 
branchlets  and  petioles,  the  under  surface  of  the  unfolding  leaves,  and  the  branches  of 
the  inflorescence  are  coated  with  rusty  pubescence  which  only  partly  disappears  during  the 
season.  The  leaves  are  elliptical  or  elliptical-obovate,  contracted  at  the  apex  into  long  slender 
points,  wedge-shaped  or  rounded  at  the  base,  long-petiolate,  coarsely  and  doubly  serrate,  thin, 
light  green  on  the  upper,  and  paler  or  rufous  on  the  lower  surface.  The  stipules  are  folia- 
ceous,  lanceolate-acute,  coarsely  serrate,  an  inch  long,  or  rather  shorter  than  the  petioles,  and 
deciduous.  The  flowers,  which,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Sapporo,  appear  in  May,  are  produced 
on  long  slender  pedicels  in  axillary  racemes  three  or  four  inches  long,  and  conspicuous  from 
their  large  foliaceous  bracts,  which  are  coarsely  serrate  with  gland-tipped  teeth  ;  they  are  half 
an  inch  across  when  expanded,  with  leafy  serrate  hairy  calyx-lobes  and  obovate  or  orbicular 
white  petals.  The  fruit  ripens  in  July,  and  is  oblong  and  rather  less  than  a  quarter  of  an 
inch  long.  In  Japan,  Prunus  Maximowiczii  does  not  appear  to  be  a  common  tree.  I  saw  a 
few  specimens  on  the  hills  near  Sapporo  and  a  single  tree  on  the  main  island,  where  it  is  said 

1  Prunus  Maximowiczii,  Ruprecht,  Bull.  Phys.  Math.  Acad.       Franchet   &  Savatier,  Enum.  PI.  Jap.  i.  118.  —  Forbes  & 
St.  Petersbourg,  xv.  131.  —  Maximowicz,  Fl.  Amur.  89  ;  Mel.       Hemsley,  Jour.  Linn.  Soc.  xxiii.  219. 
Biol.  xi.  700.  —  F.  Schmidt,  Reisen  in  Amurland,  125.  — 


38,  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

by  Maximowicz  to  grow  in  several  of  the  mountain  provinces ;  it  also  inhabits  Saghalin,  Corea, 
and  eastern  Manchuria,  where  it  was  discovered. 

The  common  Prunus  Padus  of  Europe  and  northern  Asia  reaches  northern  and  central 
Yezo,  where  it  is  not  rare  in  low  ground  in  the  neighborhood  of  streams,  and  where  it  grows 
to  a  considerable  size.  A  much  more  common  tree  in  Yezo  and  in  the  elevated  forests  of 
Hondo  is  Prunus  Ssiori,  another  Bird  Cherry,  always  easily  distinguished  by  its  pale,  nearly 
white  bark.  It  is  a  handsome  glabrous  tree  with  oblong  membranaceous  leaves  and  long 
graceful  racemes  of  small  flowers,  and  is  well  worth  introducing  into  our  plantations  as  an 
ornamental  plant.  It  grows  also  in  Saghalin,  where  it  was  discovered  by  Schmidt,  in  Man- 
churia, and  in  western  China.  The  wood  of  Prunus  Ssiori  is  very  hard  and  close-grained, 
and  is  used  by  the  Ainos  for  numerous  domestic  purposes. 

Prunus  Grayana,  the  third  Japanese  Bird  Cherry,  is  common  in  all  the  mountain  forests 
of  Hondo,  and  extends  across  the  straits  of  Tsugaru  into  southern  Yezo.  It  is  a  small  tree, 
twenty  to  thirty  feet  high,  with  a  slender  trunk,  ample  membranaceous  long-pointed  setaceo- 
serrate  leaves,  biglandular  at  the  base,  but  without  glands  on  the  petioles,  a  peculiarity  which 
best  distinguishes  this  species  from  Prunus  Padus,  although  the  hair-like  teeth  of  the  leaves 
are  characteristic  and  apparently  constant. 

Of  true  Plums  there  are  in  the  flora  of  eastern  America  no  less  than  nine  or  ten  indige- 
nous species,  of  which  six  are  considered  trees  ;  in  some  parts  of  the  country  these  plants  are 
exceedingly  common,  and  in  early  spring  enliven  forest  glades,  or  the  seacoast  of  the  north 
with  their  profuse  and  fragrant  flowers  ;  but  Japan  apparently  possesses  no  indigenous  Plum- 
tree,  and  although  Plums  are  sometimes  cultivated  in  the  neighborhood  of  Japanese  houses, 
they  are  by  no  means  common,  and  the  fruit  which  is  offered  for  sale  in  the  markets  is  not 
abundant  or  of  good  quality. 

In  recent  years  a  good  deal  has  been  heard  in  this  country  of  Japanese  Plums,  which  are 
now  successfully  cultivated  in  the  southern  states.  Some  of  these  varieties  have  possibly  been 
made  in  Japanese  gardens,  but  the  original  stock  from  which  they  have  all  been  derived  is 
probably  some  south  China  or  Indian  species  of  doubtful  identity  —  perhaps,  as  has  been 
suggested,  the  Prunus  triflora  of  Roxburgh,  an  obscure  plant,  which  is  possibly  a  form  of 
Prunus  domestica.  But  the  parentage  of  the  so-called  Japanese  Plums  will  not  be  satisfacto- 
rily settled  until  competent  botanists  have  explored  western  and  southwestern  China,  where 
must  be  solved  many  of  the  problems  which  relate  to  the  origin  and  geographical  distribution 
of  many  cultivated  plants. 

The  Japanese  form  of  the  Old  World  Mountain  Ash,  Pyrus  aucuparia,  is  a  common  tree  in 
Yezo  and  on  all  the  high  mountain  ranges  of  Hondo,  where  it  is  sometimes  twenty  or  thirty 
feet  in  height,  and  always  conspicuous  in  autumn  from  the  brilliant  orange  and  scarlet  colors 
of  the  foliage.  This  peculiarity  will  give  to  this  tree  a  horticultural  value,  although,  except 
in  its  more  glabrous  buds,  it  does  not  vary  in  any  marked  way  from  the  Mountain  Ash  of 
Europe  and  northern  Asia. 

Pyrus  sambucifolia,  which  is  much  like  the  American  plant,  although  described  as  a  small 
shrub,  is  said  to  be  abundant  in  northern  and  eastern  Yezo  and  on  the  Kurile  Islands.  I  only 
saw  it  in  the  Botanic  Garden  at  Sapporo,  where  Professor  Miyabe  has  established  a  remarkable 


PLATE  XIII. 


C.  E.  FAXOS  del. 


PYRUS  MIYABEI,  SARG. 


THE  ROSE  FAMILY.  39 

collection  of  Hokkaido  plants.  The  third  Japanese  Mountain  Ash,  Pyrus  gracilis,  is,  I 
believe,  unknown  in  cultivation ;  it  is  a  particularly  well-marked  species,  with  woolly  buds, 
leaves  only  four  or  five  inches  long,  oval  or  oblong  leaflets  rounded  or  acute  at  the  apex,  and 
pale  on  the  lower  surface,  orbicular  incisely  serrate  stipules  an  inch  or  more  across,  minute 
flowers  in  small  few-flowered  clusters,  and  oblong  fruit  barely  an  eighth  of  an  inch  long. 
Pyrus  gracilis  inhabits  mountain  forests  in  Kyushu  and  in  central  Hondo,  where,  however,  I 
did  not  succeed  in  finding  it. 

Aria  is  represented  in  Japan  by  two  handsome  trees,  the  first,  Pyrus  lanata l  (I  follow 
Hooker  in  the  Flora  of  British  India  in  referring  the  Japanese  plant  to  the  Pyrus  lanata  of 
Don,  which  grows  also  on  the  Himalayas  from  Cashmere  to  Kumaon),  is  not  rare  in  central 
Japan,  where  it  is  principally  found  at  about  5,000  feet  elevation  above  the  sea-level  on  the 
lower  edge  of  the  great  Hemlock  forest.  Here  it  is  a  tree  thirty  or  forty  feet  in  height,  with 
a  trunk  six  to  eight  inches  in  diameter,  slender  light  red  branchlets  marked  with  white  dots, 
and  oblong  obtuse  winter-buds  covered  with  pale  chestnut-colored  imbricated  scales.  The 
leaves  are  three  or  four  inches  long,  two  or  three  inches  wide,  broadly  oblong  to  ovate-lance- 
olate, acute  at  the  apex,  slightly  lobulate  and  serrate,  dark  green  and  mostly  glabrous  on  the 
upper  surface,  and  silver-white  and  more  or  less  thickly  coated  with  tomentum  on  the  lower 
surface.  The  flowers  I  have  not  seen,  but  the  fruit  is  subglobose  to  oblong,  one  third  of  an 
inch  long,  bright  scarlet,  and  marked  with  pale  lenticels.  The  second  Japanese  species  of 
Aria  (see  Plate  xiii.)  is  a  tree  fifty  or  sixty  feet  in  height,  with  a  trunk  covered  with  pale 
smooth  bark,  and  occasionally  a  foot  and  a  half  in  diameter,  slender  branches,  which  form  a 
narrow  oblong  head,  and  red  branchlets  marked  by  oblong  lenticular  dots.  The  leaves  are 
ovate,  acute,  often  long-pointed  at  the  apex,  rounded  or  sometimes  wedge-shaped  at  the  base, 
serrate  with  incurved  teeth,  or  often  coarsely  and  doubly  serrate  above  the  middle,  thin,  or 
subcoriaceous  at  maturity,  dark  green  on  the  upper  surface,  pale  on  the  lower,  two  or  three 
inches  long  and  one  or  two  inches  broad,  with  thick  prominent  midribs,  straight  parallel 
veins,  and  slender  petioles  one  or  two  inches  in  length.  The  flowers,  which  appear  near 
Sapporo  early  in  June,  are  borne  in  loose  spreading  long-branched  few-flowered  corymbs,  and 
are  half  an  inch  in  diameter.  The  calyx-lobes  are  ovate,  acute,  densely  coated  on  the  inner 
surface  with  thick  white  tomentum,  and  much  shorter  than  the  oblong  white  petals,  rounded 
at  the  apex  and  contracted  at  the  base  into  short  claws  more  or  less  covered  with  tufts  of  long 
white  hairs.  The  stamens  are  exserted,  with  filiform  filaments  enlarged  at  the  base,  and 
rather  longer  than  the  two  spreading  styles.  The  fruit  ripens  in  September,  and  is  oblong  or 
subglobose,  the  size  of  a  pea,  light  red,  and  conspicuously  marked  by  the  scar  left  by  the 
deciduous  calyx.  Unfortunately  the  name  Pyrus  alnifolia,  which  has  been  given  to  this  tree, 
is  not  applicable,  it  having  been  previously  applied  by  Sprengel,  in  1825,  to  an  entirely 
different  plant,  Amelanchier  alnifolia,  and  as  a  new  name  must  be  found  for  it,  I  am  glad  of 
the  opportunity  of  associating  with  this  fine  tree  that  of  Professor  Kingo  Miyabe,  whose 

1  Pyrus  lanata,  Don,  Prodr.  Fl.  Nepal.  237.  —  Hooker  f.  Sorbus  Aria,  var.  Kamaonensis,  Maximowicz,  Mel.  Biol. 

Fl.  Brit.  Ind.  ii.  375.  ix.  173. 

Sorbus  lanata,  Wenzig,  Linncea,  xxxviii.  61. 


40  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

knowledge  of  the  flora  of  Hokkaido  is  unrivaled.  Pyrus  Miyabei1  is  one  of  the  common 
trees  of  the  forests  of  central  Yezo,  and,  according  to  Maximowicz,  it  inhabits  the  province  of 
Nambu,  in  Hondo,  and  southern  Manchuria.  So  far  as  I  know,  it  has  .not  been  introduced 
into  our  gardens,  where  it  may  be  expected  to  flourish. 

Of  true  apple-trees,  there  is  apparently  only  a  single  indigenous  species  in  Japan,  the 
Pyrus  Toringo  of  Siebold.  This  is  the  tree  which  is  often  cultivated  in  American  and  Euro- 
pean gardens  as  Pyrus  Malus  floribunda,  Pyrus  microcarpa,  Pyrus  Parkmani,  Pyrus  Halleana, 
Pyrus  Sieboldii,  and  Pyrus  Kingo.  It  is  a  common  and  widely  distributed  plant  in  Japan, 
growing  from  the  sea-level  in  Yezo  to  elevations  of  several  thousand  feet  in  central  Hondo, 
usually  in  moist  ground  in  the  neighborhood  of  streams.  Sometimes  it  is  a  low  bush,  but 
more  often  a  tree  fifteen  to  thirty  feet  in  height,  with  a  short  stout  trunk  and  spreading 
branches.  The  leaves  are  exceedingly  variable,  and  on  the  same  plant  are  often  oblong, 
rounded  or  acute  at  the  apex,  or  broadly  ovate  or  more  or  less  deeply  three-lobed.  The 
fruit,  which,  like  that  of  the  Siberian  Pyrus  baccata,  loses  the  calyx  before  it  is  fully  ripe, 
resembles  a  pea  in  size  and  shape,  and  in  color  varies  from  bright  scarlet  to  yellow.  In  early 
spring  Pyrus  Toringo  is  one  of  the  most  beautifid  of  the  trees  found  in  our  gardens,  where  it 
is  perfectly  hardy,  and  where  it  covers  itself  every  year  with  fragrant  pink  or  red  single  or 
semi-double  flowers. 

Pyrus  Sinensis,  the  common  cultivated  Pear-tree  of  Japan,  although  now  growing  sponta- 
neously in  some  mountain  regions,  is  probably  a  native  of  northern  China  and  Manchuria ; 
and  the  only  indigenous  Pear-tree  is  Pyrus  Tschonoskii.  This  interesting  and  handsome  tree 
was  first  described  by  Maximowicz,2  whose  collector,  Tschonoski,  brought  to  him  from  the 
slopes  of  Fuji-san  a  single  fruit  and  a  portion  of  a  leaf,  now  preserved  in  the  herbarium  of 
the  Imperial  Botanic  Garden  at  St.  Petersburg.  Nothing  more  was  seen  of  it  until  Mr.  J.  H. 
Veitch  and  I  encountered  in  the  woods  near  Nikko  a  single  tree  of  a  Pyrus,  which  by 
subsequent  comparison  with  Tschonoski's  specimen,  proved  to  have  been  this  tree.  It  is 
evidently  rare,  for  I  only  saw  it  in  two  other  localities,  —  in  the  grounds  of  a  temple  near 
Nekatsu-gawa,  where  there  was  a  single  specimen,  and  in  the  woods  at  the  head  of  the  Ysui- 
toge,  near  Karuizawa,  at  the  base  of  the  volcano  Asama-yawa,  in  central  Hondo,  where  there 
were  two  or  three  trees.  Pyrus  Tschonoskii  (see  Plate  xiv.),  which  is  a  Pear-tree,  rather  than 
an  Apple  as  described  by  Maximowicz,  is,  as  we  saw  it,  a  tree  thirty  to  forty  feet  in  height, 
with  a  trunk  about  a  foot  in  diameter,  covered  with  smooth  pale  bark,  and  a  narrow  round- 
topped  head.  The  branchlets  are  stout  and  terete,  and  are  marked  with  small  oblong  or 
circular  orange-colored  lenticels ;  during  their  first  summer  they  are  red-brown,  rather  lus- 
trous, covered  with  loose  pale  tomentum,  and  encircled  at  the  base  by  the  conspicuous  ring- 
like  scars  left  by  the  falling  of  the  inner  scales  of  the  winter-buds ;  later  they  grow  darker, 
and  sometimes  nearly  black.  The  winter-buds  are  ovate,  obtuse,  and  rather  less  than  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  long,  and  are  covered  with  loosely  imbricated  chestnut-brown  lustrous 
scales,  tomentose  above  the  middle,  and  ciliate  on  the  margins.  The  leaves  are  ovate,  acumi- 

1  Pyrus  Miyabei.  Maximowicz,  Mel.  Biol.  ix.  173.  —  Wenzig,  Linncea,  xxxiii. 

Cratsegus  alnifolia,  Siebold  &  Zuccarini,  Abbild.  Acad.  61. 
Milnch.  iv.  130.  —  Regel,  Act.  Hort.  Pelrop.  i.  125.  Aronia  alnifolia,  Decaisne,  Nouv.  Arch.  Mus.  x.  100. 

Sorbus  alnifolia,  Miquel,  Ann.  Mus.  Lugd.  Bat.  i.  249.  —  2  Mel.  Biol.  xii.  165. 


PLATE  XIV. 


C.  E.  FAXON  del. 


PYRUS  TSCHONOSKIT,  MAXM. 


THE  ROSE  FAMILY.  41 

nate,  unequally  rounded  or  wedge-shaped  at  the  base,  and  coarsely  and  unequally  serrate  with 
rigid  glandular  teeth,  which  are  largest  and  most  unequal  above  the  middle  of  the  leaf ;  they 
are  thick  and  firm,  dark  green,  lustrous  and  pilose  on  the  upper  surface,  coated  on  the  lower 
surface  and  on  the  petioles  with  thick  pale,  close  tomentum,  four  to  five  inches  long  and  two 
to  three  inches  broad,  with  stout  midribs  impressed  on  the  upper  side,  and  five  or  six  pairs 
of  conspicuous  oblique  veins  running  to  the  principal  teeth  and  connected  by  reticulate  cross 
veinlets ;  they  are  borne  on  slender  terete  petioles  an  inch  and  a  half  in  length.  The  flowers 
are  unknown.  The  fruit,  which  is  usually  solitary,  or  is  sometimes  in  clusters  of  two  or 
three,  is  obovate,  pointed  at  the  base,  and  crowned  with  the  thickened  and  partly  immersed 
calyx-lobes,  which  are  triangular,  obtuse,  and  covered  with  a  thick  coat  of  dense  white 
tomentum ;  it  is  an  inch  long,  two  thirds  of  an  inch  broad,  of  a  dull  yellow  color,  and  rosy- 
red  on  one  side,  with  a  thick  skin  covered  with  pale  lenticels,  and  austere  coarse  granular 
flesh.  The  seed  is  a  quarter  of  an  inch  long,  obliquely  obovate,  acute  at  the  base,  and  cov- 
ered with  a  light  red-brown  shining  coat.  The  fruit  is  borne  on  a  stout  rigid  stem  an  inch  to 
an  inch  and  a  half  long  and  coated  with  pale  loose  tomentum,  especially  toward  the  much 
thickened  apex. 

Cratsegus,  which,  in  eastern  America,  abounds  with  many  species  which  are  conspicuous 
features  of  vegetation  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  is  only  represented  in  Japan  by 
Cratsegus  chlorosarca,  one  of  the  black-fruited  group  related  to  Cratsegus  Douglasii  of  our 
Pacific  states,  which  it  much  resembles.  It  is  not  rare  in  the  neighborhood  of  Sapporo, 
where  it  grows  near  streams  in  low  wet  soil,  and  apparently  does  not  range  south  of  Yezo. 
The  flowers  are  not  large,  and  as  a  garden-plant  this  species  has  little  to  recommend  it. 

The  Saxifrage  family,  which  is  conspicuous  in  Japan  with  a  large  number  of  shrubs, 
including  some  which  have  become  important  features  in  our  gardens,  has  only  a  single 
Japanese  arborescent  representative ;  this  is  the  now  well-known  Hydrangea  paniculata,  which 
is  one  of  the  most  common  northern  and  mountain  plants,  and  which  occasionally  in  favorable 
situations,  especially  on  the  hills  of  central  Yezo,  becomes  a  tree  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet  in 
height,  with  a  short  well-formed  trunk  a  few  inches  in  diameter  and  branches  stout  enough 
for  a  man  to  climb  into.  From  the  branches  the  Ainos  make  their  pipes. 


THE  WITCH-HAZEL  AND  ARALIA  FAMILIES. 

IN  the  Witch-hazel  family,  Distylium  racemosum,  an  evergreen  tree  of  the  southern  islands 
and  of  southern  China,  with  peculiar  and  exceedingly  hard  dark-colored  valuable  wood,  will 
require  in  this  country  the  mild  climate  of  the  extreme  southern  states  and  of  California. 
The  Japanese  Hamamelis,  however,  is  already  an  inhabitant  of  our  gardens,  where,  unlike  the 
American  species  which  flowers  in  the  autumn,  it  produces  its  orange  or  wine-colored  flowers 
in  March.  Hamamelis  Japonica  is  one  of  the  common  forest-shrubs  or  small  trees  in  its  native 
country,  where  specimens  occasionally  occur  thirty  or  forty  feet  in  height,  with  stout  straight 
trunks  and  broad  shapely  heads.  In  the  autumn  the  leaves  turn  bright  clear  yellow  ;  but  on 
one  form  which  we  found  on  Mount  Hakkoda,  near  Aomori,  with  small  thick  often  rounded 
leaves  (Hamamelis  arborescens  of  Hort.,  Veitch),  they  were  conspicuous  from  their  deep  rich 
vinous  red  color.  This  may,  perhaps,  prove  to  be  a  second  Japanese  species. 

We  were  fortunate  in  securing  a  good  supply  of  ripe  seeds  of  the  little  known  Disanthus 
cercidifolia  of  Maximowicz,  a  curious  and  interesting  member  of  the  Witch-hazel  family  (see 
Plate  xv.).  Disanthus,  of  which  only  one  species  is  known,  is  a  shrub  with  slender  spreading 
branches,  eight  or  ten  feet  high,  stout  terete  red-brown  branchlets  conspicuously  marked  with 
pale  lenticels,and  obtuse  buds  covered  with  chestnut-brown  imbricated  scales.  The  leaves  are 
suborbicular,  rounded  and  minutely  mucronate  at  the  apex,  or  rarely  orbicular-ovate  and 
sharp-pointed,  cordate  or  rarely  truncate  at  the  base,  entire,  palmately  five  or  seven  nerved, 
dark  blue-green  on  the  upper  surface,  pale  on  the  lower,  thick  and  firm,  or  ultimately  sub- 
coriaceous,  and  three  or  four  inches  long  and  broad,  with  reticulated  veinlets  and  stout 
petioles  one  or  two  inches  long  and  thickened  at  the  base.  In  the  autumn  they  turn  deep 
vinous  red  or  red  and  orange.  The  flowers  appear  in  October,  when  the  fruit  developed  from 
the  flowers  of  the  previous  year  ripens ;  they  are  dark  purple,  sessile,  base  to  base,  in  two- 
flowered  heads  on  slender-ridged  peduncles  produced  from  scaly  buds,  and  are  each  surrounded 
by  three  thick  ovate  obtuse  woolly  closely  imbricated  bracts  which  form  the  apparent  connec- 
tive between  the  two  flowers.  The  calyx  is  five-parted ;  the  divisions  which  are  imbricated 
in  aestivation  are  ovate,  obtuse,  latitudinally  unequal,  reflexed,  and  much  shorter  than  the 
five  lanceolate  acute  petals  imbricated  in  estivation,  spreading  into  a  star-shaped  corolla,  and 
slightly  incurved  at  the  apex.  The  stamens  are  as  long  as  the  lobes  of  the  calyx  and  are 
inserted  on  its  base  opposite  the  petals  ;  the  filaments  are  short  and  broad,  and  as  long  as  the 
anthers,  which  are  nearly  as  broad  as  long,  attached  on  the  back,  two-celled,  and  extrorse,  the 
cells  opening  longitudinally.  The  ovary  is  superior,  ovate,  compressed,  two-celled,  gradually 
contracted  into  two  short  spreading  styles  stigmatic  at  the  apex ;  the  ovules  are  numerous  in 
each  cell,  suspended  from  its  apex,  and  anatropous.  The  fruit  is  a  woody  ovoid  two-celled 
capsule,  which  opens  loculicidally,  with  a  thin  cartilaginous  inner  coat  separable  from  the 
thick  hard  outer  covering.  The  seed,  of  which  there  are  a  number  in  each  cell,  is  ovate, 


PLATE  XV. 


C.  E.  FAXON  del. 


DISANTHUS    CERCIDIFOLIA,  MAXM. 


THE    WITCH-HAZEL   AND  ARALIA  FAMILIES.  43 

acute,  compressed,  angled  by  mutual  pressure,  with  a  thick  hard  dark  chestnut-brown 
lustrous  coat,  an  oblong  pale  lateral  hilum,and  thin  albumen  surrounding  the  terete  embryo, 
with  its  long  erect  radicle  and  thick  ovate  cotyledons. 

Disanthus  cercidifolia J  is  not  rare  in  the  valley  of  the  Kisogawa  on  the  Nakasendo,  in 
central  Hondo,  where  it  is  occasionally  found,  covering  steep  hillsides  with  thickets  sometimes 
a  quarter  of  an  acre  in  extent.  In  habit  and  in  the  autumn  color  of  its  leaves  Disanthus  is 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  shrubs  which  I  saw  in  Japan,  and  if  it  flourishes  in  our  gardens  it 
should  prove  one  of  the  best  plants  of  its  class  recently  introduced  into  cultivation. 

The  Aralia  family  has  no  representative  in  eastern  North  America  outside  of  the  genus 
Aralia  and  only  one  woody  plant,  Aralia  spinosa,  a  small  tree  of  the  middle  and  southern 
states.  In  Japan  the  family  appears  in  no  less  than  eight  genera.  The  Ivy  of  Europe 
reaches  Japan,  where  it  is  rather  common  in  the  south,  although  we  did  not  meet  with  it 
north  of  the  Hakone  Mountains  and  the  region  about  Fuji-san.  Helwingia,  a  genus  with 
two  species  of  shrubs,  remarkable  in  this  family  for  the  position  of  the  flowers  which  are 
produced  on  the  upper  surface  of  the  midribs  of  the  leaves,  is  Japanese  and  Himalayan.  In 
Japan  Helwingia  ranges  to  southern  Yezo,  where,  in  the  peninsula  south  of  Volcano  Bay,  in 
common  with  a  number  of  other  plants,  it  finds  its  most  northern  home. 

In  the  flora  of  Japan,  Fatsia  is  represented  by  the  handsome  evergreen  plant,  Fatsia 
(Aralia)  Japonica,  now  well  known  in  our  conservatories,  an  inhabitant  of  the  extreme 
southern  part  of  the  empire,  although  often  cultivated  in  the  gardens  of  T5kyo,  both  in  the 
open  ground  and  in  pots ;  and  by  Fatsia  horrida,  a  low  shrub  with  stout  well-armed  stems, 
large  palmately  lobed  leaves  and  bright  red  fruit,  which  is  also  common  on  the  mountains 
of  the  northwest  coast  region  of  North  America,  from  Oregon  to  Sitka.  In  Japan  we  found 
it  growing  under  the  dense  shade  of  the  Hemlock  forests  on  steep  rocky  slopes  above  Lake 
Yumoto,  in  the  Nikko  Mountains,  at  an  elevation  of  5,000  feet  above  the  sea-level,  and  in 
Yezo.  The  third  member  of  the  genus,  Fatsia  papyrifera,  from  the  thick  pith  of  whose 
branches  the  Chinese  rice-paper  is  made,  and  an  inhabitant  of  central  and  southern  China 
and  of  Formosa,  is  frequently  seen  in  Tokyo  gardens,  as  it  is  in  those  of  the  United  States 
and  Europe.  In  Yezo  is  found  a  representative  of  the  Manchurian  and  Chinese  genus  Eleu- 
therococcus,  a  shrub  still  to  be  introduced  into  our  gardens,  and  Panax  repens,  a  delicate 
herb  with  trailing  stems  and  bright  red  fruit,  which  manages  to  live  on  mountain-slopes 
under  the  dense  shade  of  Bamboos,  while  Dendropanax,  a  tropical  genus  of  trees  and  shrubs 
of  the  New  World,  as  well  as  of  the  Old,  reaches  southern  Japan  with  a  single  shrubby 
species,  Dendropanax  Japonicum. 

Aralia  is  more  multiplied  in  species  in  eastern  America,  where  six  are  known,  than  it  is  in 
Japan,  whose  flora  contains  only  two,  although  a  third,  the  Ginseng  (Aralia  quinquefolia),  a 
native  of  Manchuria,  northern  China,  and  the  United  States,  has  been  cultivated  for  centuries 
in  Japan  for  the  roots,  which  the  Chinese  esteem  for  medicine  and  buy  in  large  quantities, 
sometimes  paying  fabulous  prices  for  them,  especially  for  the  wild  Manchurian  roots,  which 
are  considered  more  valuable  than  those  obtained  from  North  America  or  from  plants  culti- 
vated in  Japan,  or  in  Corea,  where  Ginseng  cultivation  is  one  of  the  most  important  branches 

1  Maximowicz,  Mel.  Biol.  vi.  21  (1866). 


44  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

of  agriculture.  Curiously  enough,  this  North  American  and  Chinese  species  was  first  made 
known  to  the  outside  world  by  Kaempfer's  description  of  the  plants  cultivated  in  Japan. 

Of  the  indigenous  Aralias  of  Japan,  Aralia  cordata  is  an  herb  with  large  pinnate  leaves 
and  long  compound  racemose  panicles  of  white  flowers,  which  are  followed  by  showy  black 
fruits.  In  habit  and  general  appearance  it  resembles  our  North  American  Spikenard,  Aralia 
racemosa;  but  it  is  a  larger  and  handsomer  plant,  and  well  worth  a  place  in  the  wild  garden. 
In  Japan  Aralia  cordata  is  often  cultivated  in  the  neighborhood  of  houses  for  the  young- 
shoots,  which,  as  well  as  the  roots,  are  cooked  and  eaten.  The  second  Japanese  Aralia  only 
differs  from  our  American  Aralia  spinosa  in  its  rather  broader  and  more  coarsely  serrate 
leaflets,  and  in  the  character  and  amount  of  pubescence  which  covers  their  lower  surface. 
Aralia  spinosa,  var.  elata,  is  a  common  tree  in  Yezo  and  in  all  the  low  mountain  region 
of  northern  and  central  Hondo.  It  usually  selects  rather  moist  soil,  and  sometimes,  under 
favorable  conditions,  rises  to  the  height  of  thirty  or  forty  feet  and  forms  a  straight  well- 
developed  trunk.  In  Hondo  large  plants  are  rare,  probably  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  forests 
on  the  low  and  accessible  mountain-slopes  are  frequently  cut  off,  but  the  shrubby  covering  of 
such  hills  is  almost  always  brightened  in  September  by  the  great  compound  clusters  of  the 
white  flowers  of  the  Aralia  which  rise  above  it.  The  Japanese  form  does  not  appear  to  be 
much  known  in  gardens,  although  young  plants  have  lately  been  raised  in  the  Arnold  Arbore- 
tum from  seed  sent  from  Japan  a  few  years  ago  by  Dr.  Mayr ;  and  it  is  the  Manchurian 
variety,  known  as  Aralia  Chinensis,  or  as  Dimorphanthus  Manchuricus,  that  is  usually  seen  in 
our  gardens,  from  which  the  American  form,  the  type  of  the  species,  appears  to  have  pretty 
nearly  disappeared,  although  the  name  is  common  enough  in  nurserymen's  catalogues. 

But  of  all  the  Araliaceae  of  Japan,  Acanthopanax  is  the  most  interesting  to  the  student  of 
trees.  It  is  a  small  genus  of  about  eight  species  of  trees  and  shrubs,  all  members  of  tropical 
Asia,  and  of  China  and  Japan,  where  half  a  dozen  of  them  have  been  found.  The  most 
important  of  the  Japanese  species  are  Acanthopanax  ricinifolium  and  Acanthopanax  sciado- 
phylloides.  Of  the  other  species,  Acanthopanax  innovans  is  a  small  tree,  of  which  I  saw 
young  plants  only  on  the  Nakasendo,  without  flowers  or  fruit,  and  which  is  still  to  be  intro- 
duced. Acanthopanax  aculeatum,  a  shrub  or  small  tree,  with  lustrous  three  or  five  parted 
leaves,  is  much  planted  in  Japan  in  hedges,  and  is  hardy  in  southern  Yezo,  where,  however, 
it  has  been  introduced.  Acanthopanax  trichodon,  of  Franchet  &  Savatier,  a  doubtful  species, 
which,  from  the  description,  must  closely  resemble  Acanthopanax  aculeatum,  we  did  not  see ; 
but  Acanthopanax  sessililiflorum  of  Manchuria  and  northern  China,  and  an  old  inhabitant  of 
the  Arnold  Arboretum,  we  found  evidently  indigenous  near  Lake  Yumoto,  in  the  Nikko  Moun- 
tains, on  the  Nakasendo  and  in  Yezo. 

Acanthopanax  sciadophylloides  is  still  unknown  in  our  gardens,  and  we  were  fortunate  in 
securing  an  abundant  supply  of  seeds.  It  is  a  handsome  shapely  tree  sometimes  forty  feet 
in  height,  with  a  trunk  a  foot  in  diameter,  covered  with  pale  smooth  bark,  short  small 
branches  which  form  a  narrow  oblong  round-topped  head,  and  slender  glabrous  unarmed 
branchlets.  The  leaves  are  alternate,  and  are  borne  on  slender  petioles  with  enlarged  clasp- 
ing bases  and  four  to  seven  inches  in  length,  and  are  composed  of  five,  or  rarely  of  three, 
leaflets ;  these  are  oval  or  obovate,  long-pointed,  wedge-shaped  at  the  base,  coarsely  serrate 


PLATE  XVI. 


ACANTHOPANAX   RICINIFOLIUM,  SEEM. 


THE    WITCH-HAZEL  AND   ARALIA   FAMILIES.  45 

with  incurved  teeth  tipped  with  long  slender  mucros,  membranaceous,  dark  green  on  the 
upper  surface,  and  pale  or  sometimes  almost  white  on  the  lower  surface,  quite  glabrous  at 
maturity,  five  or  six  inches  long  and  two  or  three  inches  broad,  with  stout  petiolules  some- 
times an  inch  in  length,  broad  pale  midribs,  and  about  seven  pairs  of  straight  primary  veins 
connected  by  conspicuous  transverse  reticulate  veinlets.  The  flowers  appear  in  early  summer, 
on  slender  pedicels  in  few-flowered  umbels  arranged  in  terminal  panicles  five  or  six  inches 
across,  with  slender  branches,  the  lower  radiating  at  right  angles  to  the  stem,  the  upper  erect. 
According  to  Franchet  &  Savatier,  the  flowers  are  five-parted,  with  acute  calyx-teeth,  oblong- 
obtuse  greenish  white  petals,  and  two  united  styles.  The  fruit,  which  is  the  size  of  a  pea,  is 
dark  blue-black,  somewhat  flattened  or  angled,  crowded  with  the  remnants  of  the  style,  and 
contains  two  cartilaginous  flattened  one-seeded  stones.  This  handsome  species  inhabits  the 
mountain  forests  of  Nikko,  where  it  is  not  common.  Later  we  found  it  in  great  abundance 
on  Mount  Hakkoda,  in  northern  Hondo,  and  in  central  Yezo,  where  it  is  common  in  the 
deciduous  forests  which  clothe  the  hillsides.  Here  it  apparently  attains  its  largest  size,  and 
grows  with  another  species  of  this  genus,  Acanthopanax  ricinifolium,  the  largest  Aralia  of 
Japan.  I  have  followed  the  Japanese  botanists  in  referring  this  tree  to  the  Panax  ricinifolia 
of  Siebold  &  Zuccarini,  although  the  plant  cultivated  in  our  gardens  and  in  Europe  as  Acan- 
thopanax ricinifolium  or  Aralia  Maximowiczii  is  distinct  from  the  Yezo  tree  in  the  more  deeply 
lobed  leaves  with  much  broader  sinuses  between  the  lobes.  A  single  individual  similar  to 
the  plant  of  our  gardens  I  saw  growing  in  the  forest  near  Fukushima,  in  central  Japan,  but, 
unfortunately,  it  was  without  flowers  or  fruit.  And  as  I  was  unable  to  find  any  leaves  on 
the  Yezo  trees  with  the  broad  sinuses  of  this  plant  or  any  intermediate  forms,  it  will  not  be 
surprising  if  the  forests  of  Japan  are  found  to  contain  two  species  of  simple-leaved  arbores- 
cent Acanthopanax,  in  which  case  it  will  be  necessary  to  examine  Siebold's  specimens  to  deter- 
mine which  species  he  called  Panax  ricinifolia. 

In  the  forests  of  Yezo,  where  it  is  exceedingly  common,  Acanthopanax  ricinifolium  (see 
Plate  xvi.),  as  it  will  be  called  for  the  present  at  least,  is  a  tree  sometimes  eighty  feet  in 
height,  with  a  tall  straight  trunk  four  or  five  feet  in  diameter,  covered  with  very  thick  dark 
deeply  furrowed  bark,  and  immense  limbs  which  stand  out  from  the  trunk  at  right  angles, 
like  those  of  an  old  pasture  Oak,  and  thick  reddish-brown  mostly  erect  branchlets  armed  with 
stout  straight  orange-colored  prickles  with  much  enlarged  bases.  The  leaves  are  nearly  orbi- 
cular, although  rather  broader  than  long,  truncate  at  the  base,  and  divided  to  a  third  of  their 
width  or  less  by  acute  sinuses  into  five  nearly  triangular  or  ovate  acute  long-pointed  lobes 
finely  serrate  with  recurved  callous-tipped  teeth  ;  they  are  five  to  seven  ribbed,  seven  to  ten 
inches  across,  dark  green  and  very  lustrous  on  the  upper  surface,  and  light  green  on  the 
lower  surface,  which  is  covered,  especially  in  the  axils  of  the  ribs,  with  rufous  pubescence. 
The  small  white  flowers  are  produced  on  long  slender  pedicels  in  many-flowered  umbels 
arranged  in  terminal  compound  flat-topped  panicles  with  long  radiating  branches,  which  are 
sometimes  two  feet  in  diameter ;  they  appear  in  August  and  September,  and  are  very  conspicu- 
ous as  they  rise  above  the  dark  green  foliage,  giving  to  this  fine  tree  an  appearance  entirely 
unlike  that  of  any  other  inhabitant  of  northern  forests. 

Acanthopanax  ricinifolium  is  common  in  Saghah'n  and  Yezo,  and  I  saw  it  occasionally 


46  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

on  the  mountains  of  central  Hondo,  where,  however,  it  does  not  grow  to  the  great  size  it 
attains  in  the  forests  of  Yezo ;  here  it  is  associated  with  Lindens,  Magnolias,  White  Oaks, 
Birches,  Maples,  Cercidiphyllum,  Walnuts,  Carpinus,  and  Ostrya.  The  Avood  is  rather  hard, 
straight-grained,  and  light  brown,  with  a  fine  satiny  surface.  In  Yezo  it  is  highly  valued, 
and  is  used  in  considerable  quantities  in  the  interior  finish  of  houses,  and  for  furniture, 
cases,  etc. 

The  illustration  (Plate  xvi.)  is  made  from  a  photograph  taken  two  years  ago  on  the 
wooded  hill  near  Sapporo,  and  represents  a  large  although  by  no  means  an  exceptionally 
large  or  remarkable  specimen.  At  the  right  of  the  Acanthopanax  two  young  Magnolias 
have  sent  up  their  trunks  in  search  of  light,  and  on  the  left  appear  a  number  of  stems  of  the 
noble  Japanese  Grape-vine  (Vitis  Coigneti*),  which  have  climbed  into  its  upper  branches. 


THE  CORNELS,  HONEYSUCKLES,  AND  PERSIMMONS,  THE  STYRAX 

FAMILY,  THE  ARBORESCENT  MEMBERS  OF  THE  HEATH 

FAMILY,  THE  ASHES,  AND  THEIR  ALLIES. 

CORNUS,  which  is  exceedingly  common  in  North  America,  where  sixteen  or  seventeen 
species  are  distinguished,  is  less  abundant  in  Japan  than  in  the  other  great  natural  botan- 
ical divisions  of  the  northern  hemisphere.  In  the  northern  regions  of  eastern  America 
different  species  of  Cornus  often  form  a  considerable  part  of  the  shrubby  undergrowth  which 
borders  the  margins  of  the  forest  or  lines  the  banks  of  streams,  lakes,  and  swamps.  In  Japan 
these  shrubby  species,  or  their  prototypes,  do  not  exist.  High  up  among  the  Nikko  Moun- 
tains, on  rocks  under  the  dense  shade  of  Hemlocks,  we  saw  a  few  dwarf  sprawling  plants  of 
the  Siberian  and  north  China  Cornus  alba,  but  did  not  encounter  in  any  other  part  of  the 
empire  a  shrubby  Cornel.  High  up  on  these  mountains,  too,  the  ground  is  carpeted  with  the 
little  Bunch-berry,  the  Cornus  Canadensis  of  our  own  northern  woods,  which  is  also  common 
in  some  parts  of  Yezo,  and  on  the  Kurile  Islands,  where  a  second  herbaceous  Cornel,  with 
large  white  floral  scales,  Cornus  Suecica,  is  found.  This  is  a  common  plant,  too,  in  all  the 
boreal  regions  of  North  America  from  Newfoundland  and  Labrador  to  Alaska,  and  in  north- 
ern Europe  and  continental  Asia.  Of  arborescent  Cornels  the  flora  of  Japan  possesses  only 
two  species,  Cornus  Kousa  and  Cornus  macrophylla,  and  neither  of  these  is  endemic  to  the 
empire. 

Cornus  Kousa  represents  in  Japan  the  Cornus  florida  of  eastern  America  and  the  Cornus 
Nuttallii  of  the  Pacific  states.  From  these  trees  it  differs,  however,  in  one  particular ;  in  our 
American  Flowering  Dogwoods,  the  fruits,  which  are  gathered  into  close  heads,  are  indi- 
vidually distinct,  while  in  the  Japan  tree  and  in  an  Indian  species  they  are  united  into  a 
fleshy  strawberry-shaped  mass,  technically  called  a  syncarp.  Owing  to  this  peculiarity  of  the 
fruit,  botanists  at  one  time  considered  these  Asiatic  trees  generically  distinct  from  the  Amer- 
ican Flowering  Dogwoods,  and  placed  them  in  the  genus  Benthamia,  which  has  since  been 
united  with  Cornus.  In  Japan,  Cornus  Kousa  is  apparently  not  common  ;  certainly  it  is  not 
such  a  feature  of  the  vegetation  in  any  part  of  the  empire  which  we  visited  as  Cornus  florida 
is  in  our  middle  and  southern  states.  Indeed,  we  only  saw  it  in  one  place  among  the  Hakone 
Mountains,  and  on  the  road  between  Nikko  and  Lake  Chuzenji,  where  it  was  a  bushy,  flat- 
topped  tree,  not  more  than  eighteen  or  twenty  feet  high,  with  wide-spreading  branches.  The 
leaves  are  smaller  and  narrower  than  those  of  our  eastern  American  Flowering  Dogwood ;  the 
involucral  scales  are  acute  and  creamy  white,  and  the  heads  of  flowers  are  borne  on  longer 
and  much  more  slender  peduncles.  Cornus  Kousa  also  inhabits  central  China ;  it  was  intro- 
duced into  our  gardens  several  years  ago,  and  it  now  flowers  every  year  in  the  neighborhood 
of  New  York,  where  it  was  first  cultivated  in  the  Parsons'  Nursery  at  Flushing.  As  an  orna- 


48  FOEEST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

mental  plant'  it  is  certainly  inferior  in  every  way  to  our  native  Flowering  Dogwood,  and  in 
this  country  at  least  it  will  probably  never  be  much  grown  except  as  a  botanical  curiosity. 

The  second  arborescent  Japanese  Cornel,  Cornus  macrophylla,  often  known  by  its  syno- 
nym, Cornus  brachypoda,  is  also  an  inhabitant  of  the  Himalayan  forests,  where  it  is  common 
between  4,000  and  8,000  feet  above  the  sea-level,  and  of  China  and  Corea.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  of  the  Cornels,  and  in  size  and  habit  the  stateliest  and  most  imposing  member 
of  the  genus.  In  Japan,  trees  fifty  or  sixty  feet  in  height,  with  stout  well-developed  trunks 
more  than  a  foot  in  diameter,  are  not  uncommon,  and  when  such  specimens  rise  above  the 
thick  undergrowth  of  shrubs  which  in  the  mountain  regions  of  central  Japan  often  cover  the 
steep  slopes  which  descend  to  the  streams,  they  are  splendid  objects,  with  their  long  branches 
standing  at  right  angles  with  the  stems,  and  forming  distinct  flat  tiers  of  foliage,  for  the 
leaves,  like  those  of  our  American  Cornus  alternifolia,  are  crowded  at  the  ends  of  short  lateral 
branchlets  which  grow  nearly  upright  on  the  older  branches,  so  that  in  looking  down  on  one 
of  these  trees  only  the  upper  surface  of  the  leaves  is  seen.  These  are  five  to  eight  inches 
long  and  three  or  four  inches  wide,  dark  green  on  the  upper  surface,  but  very  pale,  and  some- 
times nearly  white,  on  the  lower  surface.  The  flowers  and  fruit  resemble  those  of  Cornus 
alternifolia,  although  they  are  produced  in  wider  and  more  open-branched  clusters ;  and,  like 
those  of  this  American  species,  they  are  borne  on  the  ends  of  the  lateral  branchlets,  and, 
rising  above  the  foliage,  stud  the  upper  side  of  the  broad  whorls  of  green. 

Cornus  macrophylla  is  exceedingly  common  in  all  the  mountain  regions  of  Hondo,  where 
it  sometimes  ascends  to  4,000  feet  above  the  sea,  and  in  Yezo,  where  it  is  scattered  through 
forests  of  deciduous  trees,  usually  selecting  situations  where  its  roots  can  obtain  an  abundant 
supply  of  moisture.  This  fine  tree  was  introduced  into  the  United  States  many  years  ago 
through  the  Parsons'  Nursery,  but  I  believe  has  never  flourished  here.  In  the  Arnold  Arbo- 
retum, where  numerous  attempts  to  cultivate  it  have  been  made,  it  has  never  lived  more  than 
a  few  years  at  a  time.  Raised  from  seed  produced  in  the  severe  climate  of  Yezo,  Cornus 
macrophylla  may,  however,  succeed  in  New  England,  where,  if  it  grows  as  it  does  in  Japan,  it 
will  prove  a  good  tree  to  associate  with  our  native  plants. 

Cornus  officinalis,  as  it  was  first  described  from  plants  found  in  Japanese  gardens,  has 
usually  been  considered  a  native  of  that  country.  But,  although  it  has  been  cultivated  in 
Japan  for  many  centuries  on  account  of  its  supposed  medical  virtues,  it  is  probably  Corean. 
It  may  be  considered,  perhaps,  a  mere  variety  of  the  European  and  Asiatic  Cornelian  Cherry, 
Cornus  Mas,  from  which  the  Corean  tree  is  best  distinguished  by  the  tufts  of  rusty  brown 
hairs  which  occupy  the  axils  of  the  veins  on  the  lower  surface  of  the  leaves.  In  the  Botanic 
Garden  in  Tokyo,  which  includes  the  site  of  a  physic-garden  established  in  the  early  days  of 
the  Tokugawa  dynasty,  there  is  a  group  of  trees  of  Cornus  officinalis,  which  appear  to  have 
attained  a  great  age ;  they  are  bushy  plants,  perhaps  thirty  feet  tall,  with  bent  and  twisted 
half-decayed  trunks,  and  contorted  branches,  which  form  broad  thick  round  heads,  and  in 
October  were  loaded  with  the  bright  Cherry-like  fruit. 

The  Honeysuckle  family  is  represented  in  Japan  by  seven  genera  and  a  large  number  of 
species,  especially  of  Viburnum ;  but  none  of  them  can  be  considered  trees,  although  Diervilla 
Japonica  is  occasionally  almost  arborescent  in  size  and  habit.  The  Japanese  Viburnums  are 


THE  HEATH  FAMILY.  49 

now  all  pretty  well  known  in  our  gardens,  with  the  exception  of  Viburnum  furcatum,  a 
common  northern  and  mountain  plant,  so  similar  to  our  American  Hobble-bush,  Viburnum 
lantanoides,  that  some  authors  have  considered  the  two  plants  identical,  and  Viburnum 
Wriglitii,  a  distinct,  black-fruited  species  of  northern  Japan,  where  the  American  botanist, 
Charles  Wright,  detected  it  when  the  Wilkes  Expedition  explored  the  shores  of  Volcano 
Bay.  Viburnum  furcatum  is  distributed  through  the  mountain  regions  of  the  empire,  and  is 
one  of  the  commonest  species.  Sometimes  it  grows  to  the  height  of  fifteen  feet ;  and  it  is 
always  conspicuous  from  its  great  thick  reticulate-veined,  nearly  circular  leaves,  which,  in  the 
autumn,  turn  to  marvelous  shades  of  scarlet,  or  to  deep  wine-color.  If  this  fine  plant  takes 
kindly  to  cultivation  it  will  prove  a  real  acquisition  to  our  gardens. 

Ericaceae  abound  in  Japan,  where  we  miss,  however,  such  familiar  American  types  as 
Kalmia,  Oxydendrum,  and  Gaylussacia.  Vaccinium  is  multiplied  in  species  ;  but,  with  the 
exception  of  the  red-fruited  Vaccinium  Japonicum  and  the  black-fruited  Vaccinium  ciliatum, 
they  are  not  very  abundant,  and  are  mostly  confined  to  alpine  summits,  where  the  species  are 
found  which,  in  the  extreme  north,  encircle  the  globe ;  and  Blueberries  nowhere  cover  the 
forest-floor  with  the  dense  undergrowth  which  is  common  in  our  northern  woods.  The  broad- 
leaved  evergreen  true  Rhododendrons  are  not  very  common  in  Japan,  where  there  are  only 
two  species,  and,  being  mostly  confined  to  high  elevations,  they  nowhere  make  the  conspicuous 
feature  in  the  landscape  which  Rhododendron  maximum  produces  in  the  valleys  of  the  south- 
ern Alleghany  Mountains,  or  Rhododendron  Catawbiense  makes  around  the  summit  of  Roan 
Mountain,  in  North  Carolina  and  Tennessee.  Most  of  the  Japanese  Azaleas  produce  purplish 
or  brick-colored  flowers;  and  in  spite  of  all  that  travelers  have  said  of  the  splendor  of 
Japanese  hillsides  at  the  time  when  the  Azaleas  are  in  bloom,  it  is  doubtful  if  they  compare  in 
beauty  with  some  Alleghany  mountain-slopes  when  these  are  lighted  up  with  the  flame-colored 
flowers  of  Azalea  calendulacea,  or  with  the  summit  of  Roan  Mountain  during  the  last  days  of 
June,  when  one  of  the  greatest  flower  shows  of  the  world  is  spread  there  for  the  admiration 
of  travelers. 

None  of  the  Japanese  Azaleas,  excepting,  perhaps,  Rhododendron  Sinense,  the  Azalea 
mollis  of  gardens,  produce  such  beautiful  flowers  as  those  of  American  species  like  Rhodo- 
dendron (Azalea)  viscosum,  Rhododendron  nudicaule,  or  Rhododendron  arborescens.  None 
of  the  Japanese  Rhododendrons  can  be  considered  trees,  although  one  or  two  of  the  deciduous- 
leaved  species  grow  to  the  height  of  twenty  or,  possibly,  thirty  feet. 

Andromeda  Japonica,  now  common  in  our  gardens,  is  properly  a  tree,  for  in  the  temple 
park  of  Nara,  where  it  grows  in  profusion,  there  are  specimens  at  least  thirty  feet  in  height, 
with  stout  well-formed  trunks  six  or  eight  feet  in  length.  Enkianthus  campanulatus,  the  rep- 
resentative of  a  small  genus  of  southern  and  eastern  Asiatic  trees,  may  be  expected  to  become 
an  ornament  in  our  gardens  of  much  interest  and  beauty ;  and  as  it  grows  as  far  north  as  the 
shores  of  Volcano  Bay  in  Yezo,  and  up  to  over  5,000  feet  in  central  Hondo,  it  may  flourish 
in  the  climate  of  New  England.  Enkianthus  campanulata  is  a  slender  bushy  tree,  sometimes 
thirty  feet  in  height,  with  a  smooth  light  red  trunk,  occasionally  a  foot  in  diameter,  and 
thick  smooth  round  branchlets.  The  leaves  are  mostly  oval,  sharply  serrate,  firm,  dark  green 
above  and  pale  yellow-green  below,  about  three  inches  long,  and  one  inch  wide ;  they  are 


50  FOREST  FLORA   OF  JAPAN. 

deciduous,  and  in  the  autumn,  before  falling,  turn  clear  light  yellow.  The  flowers  are 
campanulate,  pure  white,  and  are  borne  on  slender  stalks  in  many-flowered  drooping  racemose 
panicles.  By  Japanese  botanists  it  is  spoken  of  as  one  of  the  most  beautiful  flowering  trees 
in  Japan,  and  we  considered  ourselves  fortunate  in  securing  a  supply  of  ripe  seed,  for  this 
species  is  still  very  rare  in  cultivation.  There  is  but  one  other  Japanese  plant  of  the  Heath 
family  which  can  pass  as  a  tree ;  this  is  the  handsome  Clethra  canescens,  or,  as  it  is  more 
generally  known  in  Japan,  at  least,  Clethra  barbinervis,  a  more  recent  name.  It  is  a  beautiful 
small  tree,  occasionally  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  in  height,  with  a  slender  trunk,  a  narrow 
oblong  head,  long-stalked  obovate  pointed  leaves,  four  to  six  inches  in  length,  and  very  dark 
green  on  the  upper  surface,  and  pale  on  the  lower  surface  with  hoary  pubescence,  which  also 
covers  the  branches  of  the  inflorescence  and  the  outer  surface  of  the  calyx  of  the  flowers. 
These  are  white,  and  are  produced  in  slender  upright  terminal  panicled  racemes  six  to  twelve 
inches  long,  and  open  in  succession  during  several  weeks  in  August  and  September.  In 
southern  Yezo  Clethra  canescens  grows  nearly  down  to  the  sea-level,  and  on  the  mountains  of 
the  southern  islands ;  in  central  Hondo,  where  it  is  a  common  forest-plant,  growing  usually 
near  the  borders  of  streams  and  lakes,  it  reaches  an  elevation  of  over  5,000  feet,  so  that  there 
is  reason  to  believe  that  this  fine  species  will  thrive  in  our  climate  if  plants  are  raised  from 
seed  produced  at  high  elevations,  although  up  to  the  present  time  those  which  have  been  sent 
to  the  Arnold  Arboretum  have  never  been  very  satisfactory.  Clethra  canescens  grows,  not 
only  in  Japan,  but  in  China,  Java,  the  Philippines,  and  Celebes. 

Although  we  have  learned  to  look  upon  Japan  as  the  home  of  the  Persimmon,  which  is 
intimately  associated  with  the  expression  of  modern  Japanese  art,  it  is  doubtful  if  either  of 
the  species  of  Diospyros  commonly  encountered  in  that  country  is  really  indigenous  in  the 
empire,  where  they  were  both  probably  introduced,  with  many  other  cultivated  plants,  from 
China.  The  more  common  and  important  of  the  two  species  is,  of  course,  the  Kaki,  Diospy- 
ros Kaki,  which  is  planted  everywhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  houses,  which  in  the  interior 
of  the  main  island  are  often  embowered  in  small  groves  of  this  handsome  tree.  In  shape  it 
resembles  a  well-grown  Apple-tree,  with  a  straight  trunk,  spreading  branches  which  droop 
toward  the  extremities  and  form  a  compact  round  head.  Trees  thirty  or  forty  feet  high  are 
often  seen ;  and  in  the  autumn,  when  they  are  covered  with  fruit,  and  the  leaves  have  turned 
to  the  color  of  old  Spanish  red  leather,  they  are  exceedingly  handsome.  Perhaps  there  is  no 
tree,  except  the  Orange,  which,  as  a  fruit-tree,  is  as  beautiful  as  the  Kaki.  In  central  and 
northern  Japan  the  variety  which  produces  large  orange-colored  ovate  thick-skinned  fruit 
is  the  only  one  planted,  and  the  cultivation  of  the  red-fruited  varieties  with  which  we  have 
become  acquainted  in  this  country  is  confined  to  the  south.  A  hundred  varieties  of  Kaki,  at 
least,  are  now  recognized  and  named  by  Japanese  gardeners,  but  few  of  them  are  important 
commercially  in  any  part  of  the  country  which  we  visited,  and,  except  in  Kyoto,  where  red 
kakis  appeared,  the  only  form  I  saw  exposed  for  sale  was  the  orange-colored  variety,  which, 
fresh  and  dried,  is  consumed  in  immense  quantities  by  the  Japanese,  who  eat  it,  as  they  do 
all  their  fruits,  before  it  is  ripe,  and  while  it  has  the  texture  and  consistency  of  a  paving- 
stone. 

Diospyros  Kaki,  or  an  allied  species,  is  hardy  in  Peking,  with  a  climate  similar  to  that  of 


THE  STYRAX  FAMILY.  51 

New  England,  and  fully  as  trying  to  plant  life ;  it  fruits  in  southern  Yezo,  and  decorates 
every  garden  in  the  elevated  provinces  of  central  Japan,  where  the  winter  climate  is  intensely 
cold.  There  appears,  therefore,  to  be  no  reason  why  it  should  not  flourish  in  New  England 
if  plants  of  a  northern  race  can  be  obtained;  and,  so  far  as  climate  is  concerned,  the  tree, 
which,  in  the  central  mountain  districts  of  Hondo,  covers  itself  with  fruit  year  after  year,  will 
certainly  succeed  in  all  our  Alleghany  region  from  Pennsylvania  southward.  In  this  country 
we  have  considered  the  Kaki  a  tender  plant,  unable  to  survive  outside  the  region  where  the 
Orange  flourishes.  This  is  true  of  the  southern  varieties  which  have  been  brought  to  this 
country,  and  which  may  have  originated  in  southeastern  Asia,  in  a  milder  climate  than  that 
of  southern  Japan,  for  the  Kaki  is  a  plant  of  wide  distribution,  either  natural  or  through 
cultivation.  But  the  northern  Kaki,  the  tree  of  Peking  and  the  gardens  of  central  Japan, 
has  probably  not  yet  been  tried  in  this  country.  If  it  succeeds  in  the  northern  and  middle 
states,  it  will  give  us  a  handsome  new  fruit  of  good  flavor,  easily  and  cheaply  raised,  of 
first-rate  shipping  quality  when  fresh,  and  valuable  when  dried,  and  an  ornamental  tree  of 
extraordinary  interest  and  beauty. 

Diospyros  Lotus,  which  is  probably  a  north  China  species,  and  which  is  naturalized  or 
indigenous  in  northwestern  India,  and  naturalized  in  the  countries  bordering  the  Mediterra- 
nean, is  occasionally  cultivated  in  northern  Japan,  where,  however,  as  it  does  not  appear  to  be 
more  hardy  than  the  Kaki,  it  does  not  seem  to  be  much  esteemed.  The  fruit  is  small  and  of 
an  inferior  quality.  Diospyros  Lotus  may  be  expected  to  endure  the  climate  of  our  northern 
states. 

In  Japan,  Styracea?  is  represented  by  Symplocos  with  half  a  dozen  species,  all  shrubs 
rather  than  trees,  by  Pterostyrax,  which  replaces  our  Mohrodendron,  from  which  the  Japanese 
genus  only  differs  in  its  terminal  paniculate  inflorescence,  five-parted  flowers,  and  small  fruits  ; 
and  by  Styrax  with  two  species.  Neither  of  the  two  species  of  Pterostyrax  equals  in  size  our 
Mohrodendron  Carolinum,  which,  under  favorable  conditions,  becomes  a  tree  eighty  to  a  hun- 
dred feet  high  on  the  southern  Alleghany  Mountains,  and  neither  of  them  approaches  our  two 
arborescent  Mohrodendrons  in  the  beauty  of  their  flowers,  which,  although  produced  in  ample 
clusters,  are  individually  small.  Pterostyrax  corymbosum,  which  I  believe  to  be  almost  exclu- 
sively a  southern  species,  I  saw  only  in  the  Botanic  Garden  in  Tokyo,  where  there  is  a  bushy 
plant  eighteen  or  twenty  feet  in  height.  Pterostyrax  hispidum,  which  is  now  beginning  to 
be  known  in  our  gardens,  where  it  is  hardy  from  Boston  to  Philadelphia,  is  a  bushy  tree  or 
shrub,  which  we  saw  wild  in  Japan  only  on  the  banks  of  a  stream  among  the  mountains  above 
Fukushima,  on  the  Nakasendo,  where  we  found  a  single  plant  twenty  or  twenty-five  feet  in 
height. 

As  an  ornamental  plant,  the  most  valuable  of  this  family,  as  represented  in  Japan,  is  cer- 
tainly Styrax  Obassia,  a  tree  which  grows  as  far  north  as  Sapporo,  in  Yezo,  and  which  may 
therefore  be  expected  to  be  as  hardy  as  Cercidiphyllum,  Syringa  Japonica,  Magnolia  Kobus, 
or  any  of  the  Yezo  trees,  with  which  it  grows  and  which  flourish  here  in  New  England. 
Styrax  Obassia,  as  it  appears  in  Yezo  and  on  the  mountains  of  central  Hondo,  where  it  is 
common  between  3,500  and  4,000  feet  above  the  sea,  is  a  tree  twenty  to  thirty  feet  in  height, 
with  a  straight  slender  stem,  long  and  graceful  branches  well  clothed  with  nearly  circular 


52  FOREST  FLORA   OF  JAPAN. 

leaves  dark  green  on  the  upper  surface,  pale  on  the  lower  surface,  and  often  more  than  six 
inches  across.  The  white  bell-shaped  beautiful  flowers,  which  are  nearly  an  inch  in  length, 
are  borne  in  long  drooping  racemes,  and  are  produced  in  the  greatest  profusion.  The  second 
species,  Styrax  Japonica,  is  a  common  plant  in  the  mountain  forests  of  Hondo  and  in  southern 
Yezo,  and  is  a  shrub  or  occasionally  a  small  tree  twenty  to  thirty  feet  high.  It  is  now  well 
known  in  American  and  European  gardens. 

From  the  Olive  family  we  miss,  in  Japan,  Forestiera,  an  exclusively  American  genus,  and 
Chionanthus,  which  is  eastern  American  and  Chinese.  Fraxinus  and  Osmanthus  are  common 
to  the  floras  of  Japan  and  eastern  America,  and  in  Japan,  Ligustrum  and  Syringa,  both  Old 
World  genera,  are  represented.  In  eastern  America,  Fraxinus  appears  in  nine  species ;  in 
Japan  there  are  probably  not  more  than  two  indigenous  species,  and  only  Fraxinus  longi- 
cuspis  is  endemic.  This  is  a  tree  of  the  Ornus  section,  which  is  rather  common  in  the  elevated 
Hemlock  forests  of  Hondo,  and  ranges  northward  into  Yezo.  It  is  a  slender  tree,  twenty  to 
thirty  feet  in  height,  with  thin  rigid  ashy  gray  branchlets,  black  buds,  and  leaves  with  five 
stalked  ovate  acute  and  finely  or  coarsely  serrate  leaflets,  which  in  the  autumn  are  conspicu- 
ous from  the  deep  purple  color  to  which  they  change. 

Fraxinus  Manchurica,  which  is  also  common  in  Manchuria,  Saghalin,  and  Corea,  is  a 
noble  tree  in  Yezo,  where  it  is  exceedingly  abundant  in  low  ground  near  the  borders  of  swamps 
and  streams,  and  where  it  often  rises  to  the  height  of  a  hundred  feet,  and  forms  tall  strain-lit 

o  /  o 

stems  three  or  four  feet  in  diameter ;  its  stout  orange-colored  branchlets,  large  black  buds, 
ample  leaves,  with  lanceolate  acute  coarsely  serrate  leaflets,  and  great  clusters  of  broad-winged 
fruits,  well  distinguish  this  species,  which  is  certainly  one  of  the  noblest  of  all  the  Ashes,  and 
one  of  the  most  valuable  timber-trees  of  eastern  Asia.  For  many  years  Fraxinus  Manchurica 
has  inhabited  the  Arnold  Arboretum,  where  it  is  hardy,  and  where  it  promises  to  grow  to  a 
good  size.  Another  Ash-tree  commonly  cultivated  along  the  borders  of  Rice-fields  near 
Tokyo  is  referred  by  the  Japanese  botanists  to  the  Fraxinus  pubinervis  of  Blume.  This  has 
every  appearance  of  being  an  introduced  tree  in  Japan ;  but  I  was  unable  to  obtain  fruit  or 
any  satisfactory  information  with  regard  to  it. 

Syringa  Japonica  is  rather  common  in  the  deciduous  forests  on  the  hills  of  central  Yezo, 
and  I  saw  it  occasionally  on  the  high  mountains  of  Hondo.  In  its  native  country,  the  Jap- 
anese Lilac,  when  fully  grown,  is  an  unshapely  straggling  tree,  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet  in 
height,  with  a  trunk  rarely  twelve  or  eighteen  inches  in  diameter,  and  does  not  display  the 
beauty  of  foliage  and  the  compact  handsome  habit  which  we  associate  with  this  plant  in  our 
New  England  gardens,  where  it  is  far  more  beautiful  than  in  its  native  forests. 

Osmanthus  Aquifolium,  or,  as  it  is  more  commonly  called  in  gardens,  Osmanthus  ilicif olius, 
is  usually  supposed  to  be  a  Japanese  tree.  I  saw  it  in  city  gardens,  and  in  greater  perfection 
in  the  mountain  region  of  central  Hondo,  where  it  is  often  planted  near  dwellings  and  by  the 
roadside,  and  where  it  sometimes  grows  to  the  height  of  thirty  feet,  and  makes  a  trunk  a  foot 
or  more  in  diameter,  and  a  broad  compact  round  head,  loaded  in  October  with  fragrant  flow- 
ers. But  where  I  saw  it,  it  had  evidently  been  planted,  and  if  it  is  a  Japanese  species,  which 
is  doubtful,  it  is  only  indigenous  in  the  extreme  south. 

Ligustrum  is  poorly  represented  in  Japan,  and  of  the  three  species  found  within  the  borders 


THE  ASH  FAMILY.  53 

. 

of  the  empire  only  the  evergreen  Ligustrum  Japonicum  of  the  south  becomes  a  tree.  Of  the 
other  species,  Ligustrum  medium  is  much  more  common  than  Ligustrum  Ibota ;  at  the  north 
it  is  found  in  moist  low  forests,  but  farther  south  ascends  to  high  elevations^  where,  in  central 
Japan,  Ligustrum  Ibota  is  also  found. 

In  the  remaining  Gamopetalous  orders  of  trees  Japan  possesses  only  Ehretia  acuminata, 
which  inhabits  the  Loochoo  Islands,  and  possibly  reaches  the  southern  shores  of  Kuyshu,  a 
small  tree,  which  I  saw  only  in  the  Botanic  Garden  of  Tokyo,  and  the  beautiful  Clerodendron 
trichotomum,  which  in  late  summer  enlivens  the  banks  of  streams  with  its  great  masses  of 
tropical  foliage  and  brilliant  flowers,  and  in  Yezo  often  attains  to  the  size  and  habit  of  a  small 
tree. 


THE   LAUREL,   EUPHORBIA,    AND   NETTLE    FAMILIES. 

THE  American  traveler  landing  for  the  first  time  in  Yokohama  is  surprised  at  the  abun- 
dance of  arborescent  Lauracese,  which  here,  with  evergreen  Oaks  and  Celtis  anstralis,  make 
the  principal  features  of  the  woods  which  cover  the  coast-bluffs  and  surround  the  temples. 
The  most  abundant  of  the  Lauraceae  in  this  part  of  Japan  appears  to  be  the  Camphor-tree, 
Cinnamomum  Camphora,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  all  evergreens,  and  probably  indigenous 
in  southern  Japan.  In  that  part  of  the  country  which  we  visited,  however,  it  had  every 
appearance  of  having  been  planted.  Even  at  Atami,  on  the  coast  some  distance  below  Yoko- 
hama, a  popular  winter  resort  famed  for  the  mildness  of  the  climate  and  for  the  geyser,  which 
attract  many  visitors,  the  Camphor-tree  is  probably  not  indigenous.  Near  the  town  is  the 
grove  of  Kinomiya,  where  may  be  seen  what  is  popularly  supposed  to  be  the  largest  Camphor- 
tree  in  Japan.  It  is  really  a  double  tree,  as  the  original  stem  has  split  open,  leaving  irregular 
faces,  which  have  become  covered  with  bark.  Between  the  two  parts  there  is  sufficient  space 
for  a  small  temple.  The  larger  of  the  two  divisions  at  five  feet  from  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  and  well  above  the  greatly  swollen  base,  girths  thirty-three  feet  eight  inches,  and  the 
smaller  twenty-seven  feet  six  and  a  half  inches.  This  remarkable  tree,  Avhich  has  every 
appearance  of  great  age,  is  still  vigorous  and  in  good  health.  Atami  is  celebrated  for  the 
skill  of  its  workers  in  wood,  and  for  the  production  of  many  small  articles  made  from  the 
wood  of  the  Camphor-tree.  The  hills  along  the  coast  are  covered  with  groves  of  Orange- 
trees,  and  in  the  temple  gardens  were  many  southern  trees  which  we  did  not  see  in  perfection 
in  other  parts  of  the  empire. 

On  the  coast  of  this  part  of  Japan,  Cinnamomum  pedunculattim  becomes  a  tree  thirty  or 
forty  feet  in  height,  and  on  the  neighboring  Hakone  Mountains  ascends  to  elevations  of  a 
couple  of  thousand  feet.  It  is  a  handsome  tree,  with  ample  ovate  acute  lustrous  leaves,  pale 
or  nearly  white  on  the  lower  surface,  and  long-stalked  flowers  and  fruit.  In  the  same  region 
two  other  arborescent  Lauraceae  grow  naturally  —  Litsea  glauca  and  Machilus  Thunbergii. 
They  are  both  evergreens,  and  are  handsome  trees,  especially  the  Litsea,  which  bears  oval 
leaves  pointed  at  both  ends,  silvery  white  on  the  lower  surface,  and  often  six  inches  long, 
and  near  the  ends  of  the  branches  abundant  clusters  of  black  fruit.  These  two  trees  are  the 
most  northern  in  their  range  of  the  Lauracese  of  Japan  with  persistent  foliage,  and  they  may 
be  expected  to  thrive  in  this  country  where  the  evergreen  Magnolia  and  the  Live  Oak  flourish. 

The  flora  of  eastern  Asia  is  rich  in  Linderas,  no  less  than  twenty  species  having  already 
been  found  in  the  Chinese  empire  and  in  Corea,  while  in  North  America  there  are  only  two  — 
Lindera  Benzoin,  the  common  Spice-bush  of  northern  swamps,  and  the  southern  Lindera 
melissaefolia.  Japan  possesses  half  a  dozen  indigenous  Linderas,  although  none  of  them  are 
endemic,  and  in  the  mountain  regions  of  Hondo  several  species  are  common,  and  make  nota- 
ble features  in  the  shrubby  growth  which  covers  hillsides  and  borders  streams  and  lakes. 


PLATE  XVII. 


C.  E.  FAXON   del. 


LINDERA  TRILOBA,  BMIME. 


THE  LAUREL,  EUPHORBIA,   AND  NETTLE  FAMILIES.  55 

The  most  beautiful,  perhaps,  of  the  Japanese  species  is  Lindera  umbellata,  a  southern 
plant,  found  also  in  central  China,  which  I  saw  only  in  the  Botanic  Garden  at  Tokyo,  where 
it  forms  a  stout  bush  eight  or  ten  feet  high.  The  leaves,  which  appear  in  the  spring  with  the 
flowers,  are  lanceolate-acute,  very  gradually  narrowed  at  the  base,  rounded  at  the  apex,  entire, 
and  often  six  or  eight  inches  in  length ;  they  are  lustrous  on  the  upper  surface,  and  pale  and 
covered  on  the  midribs  and  veins  on  the  lower  surface  with  rufous  pubescence.  The  fruit, 
which  is  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  diameter  and  brilliant  scarlet,  is  produced  in  great  quantities 
in  dense  axillary  clusters  on  the  branches  of  the  previous  year,  and  ripens  in  August  and  Sep- 
tember. As  I  remember  it,  this  seems  one  of  the  most  beautiful  plants  which  I  saw  in  Japan. 
It  may  be  expected  to  thrive  in  the  southern  states  and  in  southern  Europe,  but  it  will  prob- 
ably not  be  able  to  support  the  cold  of  the  north. 

As  a  garden-plant  for  this  region,  Lindera  obtusiloba  is,  perhaps,  the  most  promising ;  and 
we  were  fortunate  in  securing  a  sufficiently  large  quantity  of  seeds,  gathered  at  high  eleva- 
tions in  central  Hondo,  to  give  it  a  good  trial.  Lindera  obtusiloba  (see  Plate  xvii.)  often 
becomes  a  bushy  tree,  twenty  to  twenty-five  feet  in  height,  with  a  short  stout  trunk,  terete 
brown  branchlets,  and  conspicuous  winter-buds  covered  with  imbricated  chestnut-brown  scales. 
The  leaves  appear  with  the  flowers  and  are  broadly  ovate,  palmately  three-nerved,  mostly 
three-lobed  at  the  apex,  three  or  four  inches  long  and  broad,  thick  and  firm,  lustrous  above, 
and  pale  and  often  puberulous  on  the  veins  below.  In  the  autumn,  before  falling,  they  turn 
to  a  beautiful  clear  yellow  color,  and  make  a  handsome  contrast  with  the  shining  black  fruits, 
which  are  borne  on  hairy  stalks  in  few-fruited  axillary  clusters,  produced  on  short  spur-like 
lateral  branchlets  of  the  previous  year.  This  handsome  plant,  although  it  grows  to  its  largest 
size  in  central  Hondo  at  four  or  five  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  does  not,  so  far  as  we 
observed,  range  north  of  the  Nikko  Mountains,  and,  therefore,  does  not  reach  Yezo,  where 
only  Lindera  sericea  is  found.  This  is  a  small  slender  shrubby  species,  with  precocious 
flowers,  oval  entire  pointed  leaves,  silky-canescent  at  first,  and  at  maturity  dark  green  on  the 
upper  and  pale  on  the  lower  surface,  and  small  black  fruit. 

The  other  species  of  Lindera,  which  may  possibly  prove  hardy  in  our  northern  gardens, 
are  Lindera  triloba  and  Lindera  prsecox.  The  first  is  a  common  plant  in  Hondo,  where  it 
does  not,  however,  ascend  to  the  heights  reached  by  Lindera  obtusiloba,  which  is  a  more 
northern  and  a  hardier  plant.  Lindera  triloba  often  grows  twenty  feet  tall,  and  produces 
trunks  six  inches  in  diameter,  from  which  spring  numerous  slender  divergent  branches  well 
clothed  with  leaves.  These  appear  with  the  flowers,  and  are  elliptical  or  oblong,  wedge- 
shaped  at  the  base,  and  divided  at  the  apex  into  three  acute  lobes  separated  by  deep  broad 
sinuses  rounded  in  the  bottom ;  they  are  three-nerved,  membranaceous,  light  green  above, 
pale,  and  covered  below  on  the  ribs  with  rufous  pubescence,  three  or  four  inches  long,  and 
two  or  three  inches  broad,  and  are  borne  on  slender  petioles.  The  fruit  is  half  an  inch 
in  diameter,  and  is  produced  in  few-fruited  umbels  on  short  stout  club-shaped  stalks. 

Lindera  prsecox,  like  our  American  species,  flowers  before  the  leaves  appear  ;  it  is  a  bushy 
tree  fifteen  to  twenty  feet  in  height,  with  stout  divergent  light  brown  branches,  and  is  con- 
spicuous in  midsummer  from  the  large  size  of  the  flower-buds,  which  are  then  fully  grown, 
and  which  probably  open  during  the  winter  or  in  earliest  spring.  The  leaves  are  ovate,  long- 


56  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

pointed,  rather  thin,  dark  green  above,  pale  and  often  pubescent  below,  and  two  or  three 
inches  in  length,  with  long  slender  stalks.  The  fruit,  which  is  nearly  an  inch  in  diameter,  is 
reddish  brown  and  marked  with  many  small  white  dots ;  the  flesh  is  thin,  papery,  and  very 
brittle.  Lindera  prsecox  is  common  on  the  Hakone  Mountains ;  we  found  it  near  Agematsu, 
on  the  Nakasendo,  and  Mr.  Veitch  collected  it  on  Mount  Chokai-zan,  on  the  northwest  coast 
of  Hondo.  If  it  inhabits  the  Nikko  Mountains  we  missed  it  there,  and  also  on  Hakkoda, 
near  Aomori,  where  Lindera  sericea  was  the  only  species  seen.  The  other  Japanese  species, 
Lindera  glauca,  is  a  southern  black-fruited  plant  with  precocious  flowers  and  the  habit  and 
general  appearance  of  Lindera  sericea,  from  which  it  differs  in  its  larger  leaves  and  more  rigid 
branches. 

Of  Elaeagnus,  the  sole  representative  of  its  family  in  Japan,  we  only  saw  growing  natu- 
rally Elseagnus  umbellata,  a  variable  plant  in  the  size  and  shape  of  its  leaves  and  fruit,  and 
one  of  the  commonest  shrubs  in  Japan  from  the  level  of  the  sea  up  to  elevations  of  5,000 
feet.  In  the  mountainous  regions  and  at  the  north  it  is  often  planted  near  houses  for  the  sake 
of  its  small  acid  fruit ;  and  in  cultivation  it  not  infrequently  rises  to  the  size  and  dignity  of  a 
small  tree.  ElaBagnus  umbellata  is  now  well  established  in  our  gardens,  where  it  flowers  and 
fruits  as  freely  as  it  does  in  Japan. 

The  now  well-known  Ekeagnus  longipes  was  often  seen  in  gardens,  especially  among  the 
mountains  and  in  Yezo,  but  we  did  not  notice  it  growing  wild.  In  old  age  it  sometimes 
attains  the  height  of  twenty  or  twenty-five  feet,  and  forms  a  stout  straight  trunk  a  foot  in 
diameter.  Such  a  plant,  evidently  of  great  age,  may  be  seen  in  the  Botanic  Garden  at 
T5kyo.  The  beautiful  Elseagnus  pungens,  with  its  long  wand-like  stems,  now  a  familial- 
object  in  several  varieties  in  the  gardens  of  southern  Europe,  was  seen  in  the  temple  grounds 
at  Nara  and  by  the  roadside  near  Kyoto,  where  it  appeared  to  have  escaped  from  cultivation 
rather  than  to  be  an  indigenous  plant.  Of  the  other  reputed  Japanese  species  we  could 
hear  nothing 

The  flora  of  Japan,  although  it  is  comparatively  rich  in  Euphorbiacese,  does  not  contain 
any  important  trees  belonging  to  this  family.  One  species  of  Daphuiphyllum,  a  Malayan 
genus  with  beautiful  lustrous  evergreen  foliage  and  handsome  fruit,  and  now  known  in  the 
gardens  of  temperate  Europe  in  the  shrubby  Daphniphyllum  glaucesens,  attains  the  size  of  a 
small  tree ;  this  is  Daphniphyllum  macropodum,  which  we  saw  not  far  from  Gif u,  growing,  as 
it  seemed,  naturally.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  one  species  of  this  tropical  genus,  Daph- 
niphyllum humile,  grows  far  north  in  Yezo,  where,  as  well  as  on  the  mountains  of  northern 
Hondo,  it  is  a  common  under-shrub  in  the  forest  of  deciduous  trees.  We  obtained  a  supply 
of  seeds  of  this  handsome  plant,  although  it  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  it  will  be  able  to 
survive  our  northern  winters,  as  it  will  miss  here  the  continuous  covering  of  snow  under  which 
it  is  buried  in  Yezo  during  many  months  of  the  year. 

Of  the  smah1  genus  of  Aleurites  of  eastern  tropical  Asia  and  the  Pacific  islands,  one 
species  reaches  southern  Japan,  Aleurites  cordata,  which  we  saw  only  in  the  Botanic  Garden 
at  Tokyo.  This  little  tree  has  large  long-stalked  three-lobed  leaves,  inconspicuous  flowers  in 
terminal  panicles,  and  large  black  drupe-like  fruit ;  it  may  be  expected  to  grow  in  the  southern 


u 

O! 


THE  LAUREL,  EUPHORBIA,   AND  NETTLE  FAMILIES.  57 

states ;  but  it  will  be  valued  for  its  botanical  interest,  and  not  for  its  beauty.  And  tbis  is 
true  of  tbe  otber  Japanese  tree  of  the  Euphorbia  family,  Exccecaria  Japonica,  which  may 
possibly  prove  hardy  here  in  New  England,  as  we  found  it  growing  on  high  elevations  on  the 
Nakasendo  near  Agematsu  in  central  Japan,  as  well  as  on  the  high  Otome-toge  in  the 
Hakone  Mountains ;  and  Mr.  Veitch  gathered  specimens  on  Mount  Chokai-zan,  on  the  north- 
west coast  of  Hondo.  It  is  a  small  tree  with  thick  firm  dark  green  leaves  which  vary  from 
oval  or  obovate  to  obovate-lanceolate,  and  are  sometimes  six  or  seven  inches  long,  and  three- 
lobed  fruit  three  quarters  of  an  inch  in  diameter. 

Of  the  Nettle  or  Elm  family,  Japan  possesses  some  important  trees,  although  in  Elms 
themselves  the  flora  of  Japan  is  poor  as  compared  with  that  of  eastern  North  America,  where 
there  are  five  well-distinguished  species,  while  in  Japan  there  are  only  two ;  these  are  both 
continental,  reaching  in  Japan  their  most  eastern  home.  In  Hondo  Elm-trees  are  not  com- 
mon, and  in  that  island  are  nowhere  such  features  of  vegetation  as  they  are  in  our  New 
England  and  middle  states  and  in  Europe,  and  it  is  only  in  mountain  forests  between  3,000 
and  5,000  feet  above  the  sea-level  that  occasional  small  plants  of  Ulmus  campestris,  with 
branchlets  often  conspicuously  winged,  appear.  In  Yezo,  however,  this  tree  is  much  more 
abundant,  growing  on  the  river-plains  nearly  at  the  sea-level  and  in  the  forests  which  cover 
the  low  hills,  not  infrequently  becoming  a  prominent  feature  of  the  landscape.  In  Sapporo, 
where  many  fine  old  specimens  were  left  in  the  streets  by  the  American  engineers  who  laid 
out  the  town,  individuals  seventy  or  eighty  feet  tall,  with  trunks  three  or  four  feet  in  diam- 
eter, may  be  seen.  The  broad  heads  of  graceful  pendent  branches  reminded  us  of  New 
England,  for  this  Japanese  form  of  the  Old  World  Elm  has  much  of  the  habit  of  the  American 
White  Elm.  The  portrait  of  one  of  these  trees  (see  Plate  xviii.),  although  not  a  large  one, 
growing  a  mile  or  two  from  Sapporo,  gives  a  fair  idea  of  the  habit  of  this  tree  in  Yezo. 

The  second  Elm  of  Japan  grows  in  all  the  mountain-woods  near  Sapporo.  The  Russian 
botanists  have  considered  it  a  variety  of  Ulmus  scabra,  to  which  the  name  laciniata  has  been 
given,  and  which  is  principally  distinguished  by  the  peculiar  shape  of  the  leaves,  which  are 
coarsely  serrate,  often  six  or  seven  inches  long,  three  or  four  inches  broad,  and  three-lobed  at 
the  wide  apex.  It  is  a  small  tree,  barely  more  than  thirty  feet  tall,  as  we  saw  it,  and  very 
fragrant,  like  our  American  Slippery  Elm,  which  in  habit  it  much  resembles.  It  is  from  the 
touofh  inner  bark  of  this  tree  that  the  Ainos  weave  the  coarse  brown  cloth  from  which  their 

O 

clothes  are  made.  The  process  is  a  simple  one ;  the  bark  is  stripped  from  the  trees  in  early 
spring,  and  is  then  soaked  in  water  until  the  bast,  or  inner  bark,  separates  from  the  outer  in 
long  strips,  which  are  twisted  by  the  women  into  threads,  and  are  then  ready  for  use.  This 
interesting  tree  is  not  in  cultivation,  I  believe,  and  we  reached  Yezo  too  late  to  obtain  its 
seeds.  It  is  desirable,  however,  that  it  should  be  brought  into  our  gardens,  not  only  on 
account  of  the  curious  appearance  of  the  leaves,  but  that  its  development  may  be  watched  ; 
for  when  it  can  be  compared  in  a  living  condition  with  the  European  and  Siberian  forms  of 
Ulmus  scabra,  it  may  prove  sufficiently  distinct  to  be  regarded  as  a  species. 

The  Keaki,  Zelkova  Keaki,  a  member  of  this  family,  is,  perhaps,  the  largest  deciduous- 
leaved  tree  of  Japan;  it  is  its  most  valuable  timber-tree.  The  Keaki  may  be  described  as  a 
Beech,  with  the  foliage  of  an  Elm.  The  bark  is  smooth  and  pale,  like  the  bark  of  a  Beech- 


58  FOREST  FLOEA   OF  JAPAN. 

tree,  and  the  dense  compact  round  head  of  slender  branchlets  resembles  the  crown  of  that 
tree,  while  the  leaves,  which  are  large,  ovate-acute,  coarsely  serrate,  and  roughened  on  the 
upper  surface,  are  like  those  of  the  Elm. 

Zelkova  is  a  genus  with  three  arborescent  species ;  one  inhabits  Crete,  another  the  Cauca- 
sus, and  the  third  Japan.  The  flowers  are  very  similar  to  those  of  the  Elm,  and  are  unisexual 
or  rarely  polygamous,  and  are  produced  in  early  spring  on  branchlets  of  the  previous  year, 
the  males  clustered  in  the  axils  of  the  lower  leaves,  and  the  females  solitary  in  those  of  the 
upper  leaves.  The  fruit  is  a  small  drupe,  more  or  less  irregularly  oblique  in  shape  and  two- 
beaked  with  the  remnants  of  the  eccentric  style;  it  has  a  membraneous  or  slightly  fleshy 
outer  covering  and  a  thin  hard  endocarp  or  stone,  containing  a  single  compressed  concave 
horizontal  seed,  without  albumen,  the  thick  embryo  filling  its  cavity. 

Zelkova  Keaki  sometimes  grows  to  the  height  of  a  hundred  feet,  and  produces  a  trunk 
eight  to  ten  feet  in  diameter.  Such  specimens  are  often  found  in  the  gardens  surrounding 
temples  in  the  large  cities,  and  by  village  roadsides  in  the  interior  provinces.  If  any  wild 
Keakis  are  left  in  the  forests  of  Japan  they  must  be  rare,  and  I  am  not  sure  that  we  saw  this 
tree  growing  naturally,  although  it  is  everywhere  one  of  the  most  commonly  planted  deciduous 
trees.  Large  specimens,  which  we  saw  on  the  Nakasendo,  near  Agematsu,  in  one  of  the 
mountain  provinces  of  central  Hondo,  and  a  very  remote  region,  may  have  been  growing 
naturally ;  but  even  this  is  doubtful,  for  the  Nakasendo  has  been  a  traveled  highway  for  at 
least  twelve  hundred  years,  and  a  thousand  years  ago  was  probably  more  frequented  than  it  is 
now.  Of  the  range  and  habitat  of  this  tree  I  have,  therefore,  no  idea  whatever. 

The  wood  is  more  esteemed  by  the  Japanese  than  that  of  any  of  their  other  trees.  It  is 
noted  for  its  toughness,  elasticity,  and  durability,  both  in  the  ground  and  when  exposed  to 
the  air ;  it  is  considered  the  best  building  material  in  Japan,  although  it  has  become  so  scarce 
and  expensive  that  keaki  is  not  now  used  for  this  purpose,  except  in  temples,  where  the  large 
round  light  brown  highly  polished  columns  which  support  the  roof  are  always  made  of  this 
wood.  It  is  still  much  used  in  cabinet-making  and  turnery,  and  in  the  manufacture  of  many 
small  articles,  which  always  command  high  prices. 

Zelkova  Keaki  is  probably  the  only  Japanese  tree  which  is  worth  introducing  into  this 
country  on  a  large  scale  as  a  timber-tree ;  that  it  will  thrive  here  at  least  as  far  north  as 
southern  New  England,  the  plants  in  Dr.  Hall's  garden  in  Warren,  Rhode  Island,  indicate. 
There  are  several  of  these  raised  from  seed  sent  home  by  Dr.  Hall  in  1862 ;  they  have 
received  no  special  care,  the  soil  in  which  they  were  planted  is  not  exceptionally  good,  and 
their  growth  has  been  no  doubt  checked  by  overcrowding.  They  are  now,  however,  at  least 
fifty  feet  high,  and  have  produced  trunks  a  foot  in  diameter ;  they  flowered  and  fruited  last 
year,  and  our  illustration  (see  Plate  xix.)  is  made  from  specimens  taken  from  these  trees, 
with  the  exception  of  the  large  single  leaf,  which  has  been  drawn  from  a  specimen  gathered 
in  Japan. 

The  Zelkova,  of  all  Japanese  trees,  should  be  better  known  in  eastern  America,  where  it 
may,  perhaps,  become  an  imported  timber-tree,  and  produce  wood  as  strong  as  our  best  oak, 
which  it  surpasses  in  compactness,  durability,  and  lightness,  for  keaki,  in  comparison  with  its 
strength,  is  remarkably  light. 


PLATE  XIX. 


C.  F.  FAXON  del. 


ZELKOVA   KEAKI,  SIEB. 


THE  LAUREL,   EUPHORBIA,   AND  NETTLE  FAMILIES.  59 

There  is  little  to  be  said  of  the  other  Japanese  trees  of  the  Elm  family.  Celtis  Sinensis, 
with  its  thick  coriaceous  leaves  and  dull  red  berries,  is  one  of  the  first  trees  to  greet  the 
traveler  landing  in  Yokohama,  where  it  is  common  in  the  groves  which  cover  the  shore-bluffs, 
growing  with  the  Camphor-tree  and  the  evergreen  Oaks.  It  is  a  southern  species  of  wide 
range  in  southeastern  Asia,  which  we  cannot  hope  to  grow  in  this  country,  except  in  the 
southern  states. 

Aphananthe  aspera,  a  Celtis-like  tree  with  ample  bright  green  leaves  and  black  fruit, 
ranges  as  far  north  as  central  Yezo,  and  may  be  expected  to  give  interest  and  variety  to 
dendrological  collections  in  the  United  States  and  Europe,  although  to  the  mere  lover  of  trees 
with  peculiar  foliage  or  with  showy  flowers  and  fruit  it  will  not  appear  sufficiently  distinct 
from  our  native  Nettle-tree. 

Of  the  Broussonetias  or  Paper  Mulberries,  of  which  two  or  three  species  are  included  in 
the  flora  of  Japan,  I  saw  specimens  only  in  the  Botanic  Garden  at  Tokyo.  They  are  all  trees 
of  the  south,  or  more  probably  introductions  from  China.  The  White  Mulberry,  Morus  alba, 
however,  is  certainly  a  Japanese  species,  as  it  grows  as  a  small  tree  in  the  remote  and  primeval 
forests  of  Yezo,  although  the  numerous  forms  cultivated  by  the  Japanese  as  food  for  the  silk- 
worm are  usually  of  Chinese  origin.  Of  the  Fig-trees  which  appear  in  the  flora  of  Japan,  I 
saw  nothing  at  all,  with  the  exception  of  one  or  two  cultivated  shrubby  plants.  They  all 
belong  to  the  extreme  south,  and  inhabit  regions  we  did  not  visit. 


THE   WALNUTS,   BIRCHES,   ALDERS,   AND   HORNBEAMS. 

IN  nut-bearing  trees  the  forests  of  Japan  are  poor  in  comparison  with  those  of  eastern 
North,  America.  The  Hickory,  if  it  ever  existed  in  the  ante-glacial  forests  of  Asia,  has 
entirely  disappeared  from  them,  and  the  Walnut  family  now  appears  in  Japan  in  three 
genera  —  Juglans,  Pterocarya,  and  Platycarya ;  the  last  two  belong  exclusively  to  the  Old 
World.  In  Japan,  Juglans  is  represented  by  Juglans  Sieboldiana,  a  common  forest-tree  in 
Yezo  and  in  the  mountain  regions  of  the  other  islands.  As  a  timber-tree  it  is  much  less 
important  than  either  of  the  two  eastern  American  Walnuts,  as  specimens  more  than  fifty 
feet  high  are  uncommon ;  it  is  a  wide-branched  tree,  resembling  our  Butternut  in  habit  and 
in  the  color  of  its  pale  furrowed  bark,  as  it  does  in  the  pubescent  covering  of  the  youno- 
branches,  the  lower  surface  of  the  leaves,  and  the  fruit.  The  nuts  are  arranged  in  long  racemes, 
and  resemble  those  of  the  Asiatic,  or,  as  it  is  familiarly  called  in  commerce,  the  English  Wal- 
nut (Juglans  regia),  rather  than  our  American  walnuts,  which  are  deeply  sculptured  into 
narrow  ridges,  while  the  surface  of  the  Japanese  nut  is  smooth,  or  sometimes  more  or  less 
pitted ;  it  is  pointed  at  the  apex  with  thickened  wing-like  sutures,  and  is  often  an  inch  and  a 
half  long  and  about  an  inch  broad,  although  it  varies  considerably  both  in  size  and  shape ;  in 
flavor  the  kernel  resembles  that  of  the  English  walnut.  The  walnut  is  evidently  an  important 
article  of  food  in  Japan,  as  the  nuts  are  exposed  for  sale  in  great  quantities  in  the  markets  of 
all  the  northern  towns.  Juglans  Sieboldiana  is  perfectly  hardy  here  in  New  England,  where 
it  ripens  its  fruit ;  it  is  not  worth  growing,  however,  as  an  ornamental  tree,  as  the  Black 
Walnut  surpasses  it  in  size  and  beauty.  It  will  produce  fruit,  however,  in  regions  of  greater 
winter  cold  than  the  English  Walnut  can  support,  and  as  a  fruit-tree  it  may  find  a  place  in 
northern  orchards,  although  the  abundance  and  cheapness  of  English  walnuts  seem  to  forbid 
its  cultivation  as  a  source  of  profit. 

I  am  unable  to  throw  any  light  upon  the  curious  Juglans  cordiformis  of  Maximowicz,  dis- 
tinguished by  its  flattened,  long-pointed,  and  more  or  less  heart-shaped  nuts.  The  tree  which 
produces  these  peculiar  nuts  is  not  recognized  by  the  Japanese  botanists,  who  consider  them 
extreme  varieties  of  their  common  walnut.  I  looked  in  vain  for  nuts  of  this  form  in  the 
markets  of  Hakodate,  where  they  were  first  seen  by  the  Kussian  naval  officer  Albrecht ;  after- 
ward, however,  I  found  them  offered  for  sale  by  the  Nurserymen's  Association  of  Yokohama, 
and  was  told  that  they  were  collected  on  the  sides  of  Fuji-san.  A  plant  raised  from  one  of 
these  heart-shaped  nuts  has  been  growing  for  a  number  of  years  in  the  Arnold  Arboretum, 
and  has  produced  fruit.  In  habit  and  in  foliage  it  is  not  distinguishable  from  plants  of  the 
same  age  of  Juglans  Sieboldiana.  Juglans  regia,  although  included  in  most  works  on  the 
flora  of  Japan,  is  not  a  native  of  the  empire ;  it  is  occasionally  cultivated  in  the  neighborhood 
of  temples  and  as  a  fruit-tree,  but  we  saw  no  evidence  of  its  being  anywhere  indigenous,  and 
it  is  probable  that  it  was  introduced  from  northern  China,  where  one  form  of  this  tree  appar- 
ently grows  naturally. 


THE   WALNUT  FAMILY.  61 

Pterocarya,  the  curious  genus  with  leaves  like  those  of  a  Hickory,  and  long  slender  spikes 
of  small  hard  nut-like  fruits  surrounded  by  foliaceous  bracts,  appears  in  Japan  with  one 
species  ;  a  second  inhabits  China,  and  a  third,  the  type  of  the  genus,  the  Caucasus.  The 
Japanese  Pterocarya  rhoifolia  is  a  large  and  important  timber-tree.  We  first  met  with  it  on 
the  lower  margin  of  the  Hemlock  forest  about  LakeYumoto,  in  theNikko  Mountains,  where  it 
grows  to  no  great  size  ;  and  it  was  not  until  we  ascended  Mount  Hakkoda,  in  the  extreme 
northern  part  of  Hondo,  that  we  saw  this  fine  tree  to  advantage.  On  the  slopes  of  this  moun- 
tain it  is  exceedingly  common  at  elevations  of  from  2,500  to  4,000  feet  above  the  sea,  and, 
next  to  the  Beech,  is  the  largest  deciduous  tree  of  the  region,  often  rising  to  a  height  of 
eighty  feet,  and  producing  trunks  two  and  a  half  feet  in  diameter.  It  is  a  broad-topped 
tree,  with  stout  branches,  which  spread  nearly  at  right  angles  to  the  stem,  and  form  a  dense 
leafy  crown.  In  winter  the  Japanese  Pterocarya  may  be  readily  recognized  by  its  orange- 
colored  branchlets,  thickly  beset  with  small  light-colored  lenticels,  and  by  the  stout  acute 
buds,  three  quarters  of  an  inch  long,  covered  with  apiculate  black  puberulous  scales  conspic- 
uously marked  with  clusters  of  pale  hairs.  The  leaves  are  unequally  pinnate,  eight  or  ten 
inches  long,  and  four  to  six  inches  broad,  with  stout  hairy  petioles,  and  six  or  seven  pairs 
of  lateral  leaflets,  which  are  acute,  unequally  rounded  at  the  base,  long-pointed,  finely  serrate, 
yellowish  green,  and  covered  on  the  lower  surface  of  the  midribs  with  pale  or  rusty  brown 
pubescence.  In  the  first  days  of  October,  when  the  fruit  was  fully  ripe  and  just  ready  to 
drop,  the  leaves  were  beginning  to  turn  yellow ;  a  month  later,  in  the  forest  above  Lake 
Yumoto,  the  trees  were  bare  of  foliage.  A  specimen  of  the  wood  of  Pterocarya  rhoifolia, 
for  which  I  am  indebted  to  the  officers  of  the  Forestry  Department  at  Aomori,  is  white,  soft, 
yery  light,  and  straight-grained,  with  bands  of  open  ducts  marking  the  layers  of  annual 
growth ;  it  might  be  mistaken  at  the  first  glance  for  a  piece  of  our  American  white  pine. 

The  other  Japanese  member  of  the  Walnut  family,  Platycarya  strobilacea,  we  saw  only  in 
the  Tokyo  Botanic  Garden,  where  there  is  a  tree  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  high,  which  two  years 
ago  was  covered  with  the  curious  cone-like  heads  of  fruit  which  distinguish  this  genus.  In 
the  mountain  regions  of  Kyushu  it  is  said  to  become  a  large  and  stately  tree.  Platycarya  is 
occasionally  cultivated  in  the  botanic  gardens  of  southern  Europe,  but  I  am  not  aware  that  it 
is  growing  in  the  United  States. 

Myrica  Gale,  in  a  distinct  pubescent  form,  is  as  common  in  low  marshy  ground  in  Yezo 
as  it  is  in  the  same  latitude  in  North  America,  and  a  second  species  of  Myrica,  akin  to  our 
Bayberry,  inhabits  the  sandy  coast,  although  it  does  not  range  far  north  of  the  thirty-fifth 
parallel.  This  is  the  handsome  evergreen  Myrica  rubra,  a  small  shapely  tree,  now  well  known 
in  California  gardens,  and  occasionally  cultivated  in  the  southern  Atlantic  states. 

In  Japan,  as  in  all  other  temperate  northern  lands,  the  Cupuliferse  abound,  and  the  decid- 
uous forests  of  the  northern  islands  are  principally  composed  of  Oaks,  Beeches,  Hornbeams, 
Alders,  and  Birches.  The  mountain  forests  of  Hondo  and  those  of  Yezo  contain  many  Birch- 
trees,  which  are  also  important  elements  of  the  forest  in  all  northern  and  northeastern  Asia. 
The  Old  World  White  Birch,  Betula  alba,  in  at  least  three  of  its  forms,  is  common  in  central 
Yezo,  and  we  saw  also  a  number  of  trees  of  the  typical  form  on  the  plains  between  Chuzenji 
and  Yumoto,  in  the  Nikko  Mountains.  The  most  distinct  of  the  Japanese  forms  of  Betula 


62  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

alba  is  that  which  botanists  call  var.  Tauschii,  and  which  is  distributed  from  southern  Siberia 
through  the  Amour  country,  to  Yezo,  where  it  is  a  slender  tree,  sometimes  eighty  feet  in 
height ;  it  is  distinguished  by  its  larger  and  rather  thicker  leaves,  which  are  of  a  deeper  and 
more  lustrous  green  on  the  upper  surface  than  those  of  the  other  forms  of  the  White  Birch 
with  which  it  is  associated.  It  is  certainly  worth  a  place  in  our  plantations.  The  variety 
verrucosa,  well  distinguished  by  the  warts  which  beset  the  young  branches,  appears  to  be 
confined  in  Japan  to  Yezo,  where,  so  far  as  we  were  able  to  observe,  it  is  an  exceedingly  rare 
plant. 

In  the  forests  of  Yezo,  too,  we  saw,  for  the  first  time,  Betula  Maximowicziana.  This  is 
certainly  one  of  the  handsomest  trees  in  Japan,  and  one  of  the  most  distinct  and  beautiful  of 
the  Birches  ;  and  its  introduction  into  our  plantations  was  alone  well  worth  the  journey  to 
Japan.  In  Yezo,  Betula  Maximowicziana  is  a  shapely  tree,  eighty  or  ninety  feet  in  height, 
with  a  trunk  two  or  three  feet  in  diameter,  covered  with  pale  smooth  orange-colored  bark. 
Toward  the  base  of  old  individuals  the  bark  becomes  thick  and  ashy  gray,  separating  into 
long  narrow  scales.  The  branchlets  are  stout,  covered  with  dark  red-brown  bark  and  marked 
by  many  pale  lenticels.  The  leaves,  however,  are  the  most  distinct  feature  of  this  tree  ;  in  size 
they  are  not  equaled  by  those  of  any  other  Birch-tree,  and  as  they  flutter  on  their  long 
slender  stalks  they  offer  a  spectacle  which  can  be  compared  with  that  which  is  afforded  by 
our  Silver-leaved  Linden  waving  its  branches  before  some  Hemlock-covered  hill  of  the  southern 
Alleghany  Mountains.  The  leaves  of  Betula  Maximowicziana  are  broadly  ovate,  cordate  at 
the  base,  coarsely  and  doubly  serrate,  very  thin  and  membranaceous,  dark  green  and  lustrous 
on  the  upper  surface,  pale  yellow-green  on  the  lower  surface,  four  to  six  inches  long  and  four 
or  four  and  a  half  inches  broad.  The  flowers  and  fruit  I  have  not  seen.  The  male  catkins 
in  September  are  an  inch  and  a  half  long,  very  slender,  with  bracts  rounded  and  apiculate  at 
the  apex.  From  the  seeds,  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  the  Forestry  officials  of  Hokkaido,  a 
large  number  of  seedlings  of  this  fine  tree  have  been  raised  in  the  Arboretum.  Specimens 
collected  in  the  Nikko  Mountains  by  Mayr  indicate  that  it  is  an  inhabitant  of  Hondo,  where, 
however,  we  did  not  see  it.  From  Yezo  it  ranges  northward  through  Saghalin  into  Man- 
churia. The  tough  thin  bark  is  used  by  the  Ainos  for  many  domestic  purposes. 

The  most  common  Birch  of  the  high  mountain  forests  of  Hondo  is  Betula  Ermani,  a  hand- 
some species  now  well  known  in  European  and  American  collections,  into  which  it  has  been 
introduced  through  the  agency  of  the  St.  Petersburg  Botanic  Garden.  In  Hondo,  where  it  is 
found  scattered  through  the  coniferous  forests,  it  is  common  at  elevations  of  from  four  to  six 
thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  and  is  conspicuous  from  the  white  bark  of  the  trunk  and  the 
bright  orange-colored  bark  of  the  principal  branches.  From  the  different  forms  of  the  White 
Birch  this  species  can  be  readily  distinguished  in  the  herbarium  by  the  long  spatulate  middle 
lobe  of  the  bract  of  the  female  flower ;  in  the  forest  the  color  of  the  bark  of  the  branches 
well  distinguishes  it. 

On  the  shores  of  Lake  Yumoto  we  found  a  single  individual  of  a  black-barked  Birch-tree, 
much  like  our  American  Betula  lenta,  with  the  same  Cherry-like  flavor  in  the  bark  of  the 
branchlets.  From  Betula  lenta  it  differed  in  its  larger,  more  obtuse  and  paler  winter-buds,  in 
the  more  prominent  midribs  and  veins  of  the  leaves  covered  on  their  lower  surface  with  silky 


PLATE  XX. 


C.  E.  FAXON  del. 


ALNUS    JAPONICA,  SIEB.  F.T  Zucc. 


THE  ALDER  FAMILY.  63 

pubescence,  and  in  the  shorter  cones  of  fruit,  the  lateral  lobes  of  the  bracts  being  narrow  and 
acute,  instead  of  broad  and  rounded,  as  in  the  American  species.  With  considerable  hesita- 
tion I  have  referred  this  tree  to  the  Betula  serra  of  Siebold  &  Zuccarini.  The  seedling 
plants  which  have  been  raised  in  the  Arboretum  will,  perhaps,  throw  some  light  upon  its  true 
position.  Betula  ulrnifolia,  Betula  Bhojpattra,  and  Betula  corylifolia,  included  in  the  flora 
of  Japan,  we  did  not  see. 

In  Japan  Alders  are  more  numerous  in  species,  and  grow  to  a  much  larger  size  than  in 
eastern  America.  Aluiis  incana,  which  is  only  a  shrub  here,  in  Japan  becomes  in  some  of  its 
forms  a  stately  tree  fifty  or  sixty  feet  in  height,  forming  trunks  often  two  feet  in  diameter. 
Trees  of  this  size  of  the  varieties  glauca  and  hirsuta,  the  latter  well  characterized  by  the  pale 
pubescence  which  covers  the  lower  surface  of  the  leaves,  are  common  in  Yezo,  where  they  are 
found  on  low  slopes  in  moist  rich  ground,  but  not  often  close  to  the  banks  of  streams,  which 
are  usually  occupied  by  Alnus  Japonica.  This  is  the  largest  and  most  beautiful  of  the 
Japanese  Alders.  It  is  a  pyramidal  tree,  often  sixty  to  eighty  feet  tall,  well  furnished  to  the 
ground  with  branches  clothed  with  large  dark  green  lustrous  leaves.  This  species  has  been 
confounded  with  the  rare  North  American  Alnus  maritima,  from  which  it  differs  in  habit  and 
in  the  size  and  color  of  the  leaves.  The  fruit  of  the  two  species  is  very  similar,  but  the 
Japanese  tree  flowers  in  the  spring,  ripening  its  fruit  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  while 
the  American  tree  flowers  in  the  autumn,  and  does  not  perfect  its  fruit  until  a  year  later. 
The  figure  of  Alnus  Japonica  (see  Plate  xx.)  has  been  made  from  a  drawing  of  a  wild  speci- 
men gathered  in  Yezo. 

Alnus  Japonica  is  sometimes  found  in  our  collections,  and  is  generally  cultivated  under 
the  name  of  Alnus  firma.  It  is  perfectly  hardy  in  New  England,  where  it  grows  rapidly,  and 
promises  to  become  a  large  and  handsome  tree.  The  true  Alnus  firma,  which  is  largely  planted 
along  the  margins  of  the  Rice-fields  near  Tokyo  to  afford  support  for  the  poles  on  which  the 
freshly  cut  rice  is  hung  to  dry,  was  not  seen  growing  under  what  appeared  natural  conditions ; 
but  the  beautiful  mountain-tree,  distinguished  by  the  thick  conspicuously  veined  leaves,  which 
has  been  considered  a  variety  of  Alnus  firma  (var.  multinervis),  we  often  saw  on  the  moun- 
tains of  Hondo,  where  it  grows  on  dry  rocky  soil,  and  reaches  elevations  of  some  5,000  feet 
above  the  sea-level.  It  is  a  graceful  tree,  sometimes  twenty  or  thirty  feet  high,  with  slender 
spreading  branches  and  thin  flexible  branchlets  covered  with  ample  thick  dark  green  acute 
leaves  with  from  sixteen  to  twenty-four  pairs  of  pale  conspicuous  straight  veins.  When  better 
known,  this  handsome  tree  will  probably  prove  to  be  specifically  distinct,  and  a  garden-plant 
of  value. 

What  has  been  considered  a  form  of  Alnus  viridis  (var.  Sibirica)  is  a  very  distinct-looking 
plant  in  Japan,  with  broadly  ovate  cordate  leaves  fully  twice  as  large  as  those  produced  by 
Alnus  viridis  in  America  or  Europe.  At  high  elevations  on  Mount  Hakkoda  we  found  it 
groAving  as  a  bushy  tree  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  feet  tall,  and  forming  a  short  stout  trunk. 
A  review  of  all  the  known  forms  of  Alnus  viridis  will  probably  necessitate  the  separation  of 
this  Japanese  plant  from  that  species. 

Of  the  Oak  family  it  is  in  Carpinus  only  that  the  forests  of  eastern  Asia  are  superior  to 
those  of  America,  where  we  have  a  single  species  of  Hornbeam,  a  small  tree  confined  to  the 


64  FOREST  FLORA   OF  JAPAN. 

eastern  side  of  the  continent.  Europe  possesses,  also,  a  single  species  which  extends  to  the 
Orient,  where  a  second  species  is  found.  The  forests  which  cover  the  Himalayas  contain  two 
species ;  at  least  two  or  three  others  are  found  in  the  Chinese  empire ;  and  to  the  flora 
of  Japan  six  species  are  credited.  One  of  the  Japanese  species,  however,  Carpinus  erosa  of 
Blume,  is  a  doubtful  plant;  another,  the  Carpinus  Tschonoskii  of  Maximowicz,  from  the 
Hakone  Mountains  and  the  region  of  Fuji-san,  I  have  never  seen  ;  and  a  third,  Carpinus 
Yedoensis,  a  small  tree  cultivated  in  gardens  in  the  neighborhood  of  Tokyo,  is,  perhaps,  like 
many  of  the  plants  cultivated  by  the  Japanese,  a  native  of  China.  Three  species  are  certainly 
indigenous  to  the  Japanese  soil. 

Carpinus  laxiflora  resembles,  in  the  character  of  the  bark,  in  the  size  and  shape  of  the 
leaves,  and  in  the  structure  of  the  flowers,  the  European  and  American  Hornbeams.  It  is  a 
graceful  tree,  occasionally  fifty  feet  in  height,  with  a  trunk  eighteen  to  twenty  inches  in 
diameter,  covered  with  smooth  pale,  sometimes  almost  white,  bark,  and  slender  branches. 
The  leaves  are  ovate  or  ovate-elliptical,  rounded  or  subcordate  at  the  base,  contracted  at  the 
apex  into  long  slender  points,  and  doubly  serrate ;  they  are  dark  green  above,  pale  yellow- 
green  below,  three  to  four  inches  long,  an  inch  to  an  inch  and  a  half  broad,  and  prominently 
many-veined,  and  in  the  autumn  turn  yellow  or  red  and  yellow.  The  fruit  is  produced  in  lax 
hairy  catkins  four  or  five  inches  long,  with  spreading  oblique  prominently  veined  bracts, 
which  are  obscurely  lobed,  more  or  less  infolded  at  the  base  round  the  fruit,  and  nearly  an 
inch  long.  This  fine  tree  is  common  in  all  the  mountain  forests  of  Hondo,  where  it  is  most 
abundant  at  elevations  between  two  and  three  thousand  feet  above  the  sea ;  in  Yezo  it  reaches 
the  southern  shores  of  Volcano  Bay,  where,  near  the  town  of  Mori,  it  is  common  in  Oak 
forests,  and  grows  to  its  largest  size. 

The  other  Japanese  species  of  Carpinus  differ  from  Carpinus  laxiflora  and  from  the  Ameri- 
can and  European  species  in  their  furrowed  scaly  bark,  in  the  stalked  bract  of  the  male  flower, 
in  the  closely  imbricated  bracts  of  the  fruiting  catkins,  which  look  like  the  fruit  of  the  Hop- 
vine,  and  in  the  form  of  these  bracts,  which  are  furnished  at  the  base  with  a  lobe  which  covers 
the  fruit,  and  is  more  or  less  inclosed  by  the  infolding  of  the  opposite  side  of  the  bract.  On 
account  of  these  differences  these  two  trees  are  sometimes  referred  to  the  genus  Distigocarpus, 
founded  by  Siebold  &  Zuccarini  to  receive  their  Distigocarpus  Carpinus. 

The  figure  (see  Plate  xxi.)  shows  flowering  and  fruiting  branches  of  this  tree,  a  staminate 
flower,  and  a  bract  of  the  fruiting  catkin.  Botanists  now  pretty  generally  agree  that  the 
characters  upon  which  Distigocarpus  was  founded  are  not  of  sufficient  importance  to  justify 
its  separation  from  Carpinus ;  and  Distigocarpus  Carpinus,  if  the  oldest  specific  name  is  used, 
becomes  Carpinus  Carpinus.  By  Blume,  who  first  united  Distigocarpus  with  Carpinus,  it  was 
called  Carpinus  Japonica,  the  name  under  which  it  has  appeared  in  all  recent  works  on  the 
Japanese  flora.  It  is  a  tree  forty  to  fifty  feet  in  height,  with  a  trunk  often  twelve  to  eighteen 
inches  in  diameter,  and  wide-spreading  branches  which  form  a  broad  handsome  head.  The 
branches  are  slender,  terete,  and  coated  at  first  with  long  pale  hairs,  and  later  are  covered 
with  dark  red-brown  bark  often  marked  with  oblong  pale  lenticels.  The  winter-buds  are  half 
an  inch  long,  acute,  and  covered  with  many  imbricated  thin  light  brown  papery  scales ;  with 
the  exception  of  those  of  the  outer  rows  they  are  accrescent  on  the  growing  shoots,  and  at 


PLATE  XXI, 


C.  E.  FAXON  del. 


CARPINUS   CARPINUS,  SARG. 


THE  HORNBEAM  FAMILY.  65 

maturity  are  nearly  an  inch  long  and  hairy  on  the  margins.  The  leaves  are  ovate,  long- 
pointed,  slightly  and  usually  obliquely  cordate  at  the  base,  coarsely  and  doubly  serrate,  thick 
and  firm,  dark  green  on  the  upper  surface,  paler  on  the  lower  surface,  three  or  four  inches 
long  and  about  an  inch  and  a  half  wide,  with  stout  midribs  and  many  straight  prominent 
veins  slightly  hairy  below  and  deeply  impressed  above.  The  stipules  are  linear,  acute,  scari- 
ous,  an  inch  long,  and  covered  with  pale  hairs.  The  male  inflorescence  is  an  inch  long,  with 
stalked  lanceolate-acute  bracts  half  an  inch  in  length,  and  more  or  less  ciliate  on  the  margins. 
The  female  inflorescence  is  two  thirds  of  an  inch  long,  and  is  raised  on  a  slender  stem  coated, 
like  the  bracts  which  subtend  the  ovaries,  with  thick  white  tomentum  ;  the  outer  bracts  are  acute, 
scarious,  a  quarter  of  an  inch  long,  and  early  deciduous ;  the  inner  bracts  are  oblique,  coarsely 
serrate  toward  the  apex,  conspicuously  many-ribbed,  and  furnished  at  the  base  with  a  minute 
ovate  serrate  lobe  which  covers  the  ovary.  Before  the  fruit  ripens  these  inner  bracts  enlarge 
until  they  are  two  thirds  of  an  inch  long  and  one  third  of  an  inch  broad,  and  are  closely 
imbricated  into  a  cone-like  catkin  which  resembles  in  shape,  color,  and  texture  that  of  our 
American  Hop  Hornbeam ;  it  is,  however,  often  two  or  two  and  a  half  inches  long.  The 
nutlet  is  slightly  flattened,  with  about  ten  straight  prominent  ridges  extending  from  one  end 
to  the  other. 

Carpinus  Carpinus  is  common  on  the  Hakone  and  Nikko  mountains  between  two  and  three 
thousand  feet  elevation  above  the  sea ;  it  apparently  does  not  range  very  far  north  in  Hondo 
or  reach  the  island  of  Yezo.  This  interesting  and  beautiful  tree,  which  is  remarkable  among 
Hornbeams  in  the  character  of  the  bark  and  in  the  female  inflorescence,  appears  to  be 
perfectly  hardy  in  New  England.  For  a  number  of  years  it  has  inhabited  the  Arnold 
Arboretum,  and  during  the  last  two  seasons  has  produced  flowers  and  fruit  here.  In  its 
young  state  it  makes  a  handsome,  compact,  pyramidal,  bushy,  and  very  distinct-looking  tree. 

But  the  most  beautiful  of  the  Hornbeams  of  Japan,  as  it  appears  in  the  forests  of  Yezo,  is 
Carpinus  cordata,  which  often  attains  the  height  of  forty  feet,  with  a  stout  trunk  sometimes 
eighteen  inches  in  diameter,  covered  with  dark  deeply  furrowed  scaly  'bark.  The  stout 
branchlets  are  orange-color,  or  light  brown  when  they  are  three  or  four  years  old,  and  are 
covered  with  large  oblong  pale  lenticels.  This  species  is  remarkable  in  the  size  of  its  winter- 
buds,  which  are  fully  grown  by  midsummer,  and  are  sometimes  nearly  an  inch  in  length,  and 
acute,  and  covered  with  light  chestnut-brown  papery  scales.  The  leaves  are  thin,  broadly 
ovate,  pointed,  deeply  cordate,  doubly  serrate,  six  or  seven  inches  long,  and  three  or  four 
inches  broad ;  they  are  light  green  on  both  surfaces,  although  rather  lighter  colored  on  the 
lower,  with  conspicuous  yellow  midribs  and  veins  slightly  hairy  below  and  impressed  above. 
The  catkins  of  fruit  are  often  five  or  six  inches  long  and  an  inch  and  a  half  wide,  with 
broadly  ovate,  remotely  serrate  bracts  ;  their  basal  lobe  is  proportionately  much  larger  than 
that  of  the  last  species,  and  is  sometimes  a  third  of  the  length  of  the  bract,  to  which  it  is 
often  united  along  nearly  its  entire  length,  while  in  Carpinus  Carpinus  the  lobe  is  only 
attached  at  the  base. 

This  is  the  only  species  of  central  Yezo,  where  it  is  one  of  the  common  forest-trees, 
growing  with  Oaks,  Magnolias,  Ashes,  Walnuts,  Acanthopanax,  Birches,  etc. ;  it  also  grows 
in  Hondo  at  high  elevations,  although  it  is  here  much  less  common  than  farther  north.  This 


66  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

fine  tree  is  apparently  still  unknown  in  American  and  European  gardens ;  it  is  one  of  the 
largest  of  the  Hornbeams,  and  certainly  one  of  the  most  distinct  and  beautiful  of  them  all. 
As  it  grows  in  its  native  forests  with  a  number  of  trees  which  flourish  here  in  New  England, 
it  may  be  expected  to  grace  our  plantations  with  its  stately  habit,  large  leaves,  and  long 
clusters  of  fruit. 

Ostrya,  the  Hop  Hornbeam,  appears  in  North  America  with  two  species,  one,  a  small 
forest-tree  of  the  eastern  states,  the  second  known  only  in  the  Grand  Caiion  of  the  Colo- 
rado in  Arizona ;  a  third  species  inhabits  southern  Europe,  Asia  Minor,  and  the  Caucasus ; 
the  genus  has  no  representative  in  the  Himalaya  forest  region ;  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  has 
not  been  found  within  the  borders  of  the  Chinese  empire  or  in  Manchuria.  It  appears 
again  in  northern  Japan,  however,  where  the  Hop  Hornbeam  is  one  of  the  rarest  of 
Yezo  trees.  Maximowicz,  who  found  it  in  the  southern  part  of  that  island,  considered  the 
Japanese  Ostrya  a  variety  of  our  American  species  and  called  it  Ostrya  Virginica,  var. 
Japonica.1  The  American  and  the  Japanese  trees  are  very  similar  in  botanical  characters ; 
indeed,  it  is  difficult  to  find  characters  to  separate  satisfactorily  the  species  of  this  genus, 
which  might  all  be  considered  geographical  varieties  of  one.  The  Japanese  and  American 
trees,  however,  look  very  differently  in  the  forest,  and  there  are  differences  in  the  bark 
which  are  not  easy  to  express  in  words.  The  leaves  of  the  Japanese  tree  are  thinner  and 
the  heads  of  fruit  are  smaller  than  those  on  the  American  species  (see  Plate  xxii.).  Unfor- 
tunately, I  have  not  had  an  opportunity  to  examine  the  flowers  of  the  Japanese  tree ;  it  is 
not  probable,  however,  that  they  would  afford  a  character  by  which  the  species  could  be  dis- 
tinguished. In  the  forests  of  Yezo  I  felt  no  doubt  of  its  specific  distinctness ;  the  meagre 
and  unsatisfactory  material  of  the  herbarium  rather  shakes  than  confirms  this  opinion.  But, 
all  things  considered,  it  is,  perhaps,  best  to  consider  the  Japanese  tree  as  specifically  distinct. 
Not  until  it  has  been  grown  here  during  many  years  side  by  side  with  the  American  species 
will  it  be  possible  to  reach  any  opinion  on  this  subject  worthy  of  much  consideration.  If  it 
proves  to  be  distinct  it  should  bear  the  name  of  Ostrya  Japonica.  In  the  neighborhood  of 
Sapporo  the  Japanese  Ostrya  is  rare ;  here  in  low  moist  woods,  growing  with  Oaks,  Acantho- 
panax,  and  Aralia,  it  sometimes  attains  a  height  of  eighty  feet,  and  forms  a  tall  straight  trunk 
eighteen  inches  in  diameter.  We  saw  only  one  such  tree,  in  the  grounds  attached  to  the 
headquarters  of  the  Forest  Department  of  Hokkaido,  and  only  two  or  three  other  individuals; 
these  were  much  smaller,  perhaps  not  more  than  twenty  feet  high,  and  were  scattered  over 
the  Sapporo  hills.  We  saw  nothing  of  this  tree  in  southern  Yezo  or  in  northern  Hondo, 
where  Tschonoski,  Maximowicz's  servant  and  collector,  found  it  on  the  high  mountains  of  the 

province  of  Nambu. 

i  Mil.  EM.  xi.  317. 


PLATE  XXII. 


C.  E.  FAXON  del. 


OSTRYA   JAPONJCA,  SARG. 


THE   OAKS,   CHESTNUTS,  WILLOWS,   AND   POPLARS. 

ALTHOUGH  poorer  in  species  and  less  important  in  the  number,  size,  and  value  of  individ- 
uals than  in  eastern  America,  Quercus-  furnishes  one  of  the  principal  elements  of  the  forests 
of  Japan.  The  types  are  all  of  the  Old  World,  and  there  is  nothing  in  Japan  which  corre- 
sponds with  our  Red,  Black,  or  Scarlet  Oaks,  or  with  the  Black  Jack,  the  Willow  Oak,  the 
Shingle  Oak,  the  Turkey  Oak,  the  Spanish  Oak,  the  Water  Oak,  or  the  Pin  Oak,  the  Blue 
Jack,  or  with  our  Chestnut  Oaks.  In  the  north  and  on  the  high  mountains  of  Hondo  there 
are  four  White  Oaks,  and  in  the  south  a  number  of  species  with  evergreen  foliage  of  sections 
of  the  genus,  which  are  not  represented  in  the  United  States.  In  the  south,  too,  there 
are  a  couple  of  deciduous-leaved  species  with  biennial  fructification  of  the  Turkey  Oak 
(Quercus  Cerris)  sort. 

The  best  known  of  the  Japanese  Oaks  to  European  and  American  planters  is  Quercus 
dentata  (the  Quercus  Daimio  of  gardens).  This  tree  is  remarkable  for  the  great  size  of  its 
leaves,  which  are  often  a  foot  long  and  eight  inches  broad,  obovate  in  outline,  and  deeply 
serrately  lobed,  and  for  the  long  loose  narrow  chestnut-brown  scales  of  the  large  cup  which 
nearly  incloses  the  small-pointed  acorn.  In  central  Hondo  this  tree  is  found  only  on  the  high 
mountains,  and  it  is  not  at  all  common ;  but  in  the  extreme  northern  part  of  the  island  it 
appears  in  great  numbers  on  dry  gravelly  slopes,  at  no  great  elevation  above  the  sea.  Here, 
apparently,  however,  it  does  not  reach  the  size  it  attains  farther  north,  and  the  finest  trees  we 
saw  were  on  the  gravelly  plain  south  of  Volcano  Bay,  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  Sapporo. 
The  illustration  (see  Plate  xxiii.)  represents  a  group  of  these  trees  growing  just  outside  of 
Sapporo,  and  shows  their  habit  at  maturity.  Although  Quercus  dentata  grows  to  the  height 
of  at  least  eighty  feet,  and  forms  a  thick  trunk  more  than  three  feet  in  diameter,  it  is  not 
an  imposing  or  handsome  tree  in  its  maturity,  and  is  only  beautiful  in  youth.  Old  trees 
lack  symmetry  and  the  appearance  of  strength,  and  are  sprawling  in  habit,  without  being 
picturesque.  The  bark  is  rather  dark  for  a  White  Oak,  and  not  unlike  that  of  our  Rock 
Chestnut  Oak  (Quercus  Prinus) ;  it  is  valued  for  tanning  leather,  but  the  wood  is  considered 
worthless.  Quercus  dentata  appears  to  be  the  only  deciduous-leaved  Oak  cultivated  by  the 
Japanese,  and  small  trees  are  common  in  the  gardens  of  Toky5  and  other  southern  cities, 
where,  however,  they  seem  to  languish.  A  variety  (pinnatifida),  with  deeply  divided  leaves,  is 
cultivated  in  the  Botanic  Garden  at  Tokyo,  and  has,  I  believe,  been  introduced  into  Europe. 

In  central  Yezo  two  noble  White  Oaks,  Quercus  crispula  and  Quercus  grosseserrata,  form 
a  considerable  part  of  the  forest-growth.  The  Dutch  botanist  Miquel  considered  them  forms 
of  one  species ;  but  Professor  Miyabe,  who  has  had  the  best  opportunity  for  studying  these 
trees  under  the  most  favorable  conditions,  believes  them  to  be  distinct  in  their  fruit,  although 
similar  in  foliage.  In  Quercus  crispula  he  finds  "  the  cup  deeper,  embracing  about  half  the 
cylindrical  nut,  falling  off  with  it  when  ripe';  while  in  the  latter,  Quercus  grosseserrata,  the 


68  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

cup  is  hemispherical,  inclosing  about  a  third  of  the  oblong  ovoid  nut,  which  falls  off  free 
when  ripe."  His  view,  too,  that  Quercus  grosseserrata  cannot  be  specifically  distinguished 
from  the  Saghalin  and  Manchurian  Quercus  Mongolica,  will  probably  be  found  to  be  correct. 
Quercus  crispula  appears  to  range  farther  south  than  Quercus  grosseserrata,  which  extends 
north  to  the  Kurile  Islands,  and  was  not  recognized  by  us  in  Hondo  ;  on  the  Nikko  Moun- 
tains, on  the  road  to  Lake  Chuzenji,  we  saw,  however,  fine  forests  of  Quercus  crispula.  In 
central  Yezo,  where  the  two  species  grow  side  by  side  on  the  hills,  Quercus  crispula  appears 
the  more  common  tree  on  low  ground,  near  the  banks  of  streams.  Both  have  elliptical  or 
obovate-oblong  coarsely  and  irregularly  lobed  leaves,  resembling  in  color  and  texture  those  of 
the  common  Oak  of  Europe.  Their  bark  is  pale  or  sometimes  dark,  and  scaly ;  and  both 
species  under  favorable  conditions  rise  to  a  height  of  eighty  to  a  hundred  feet,  and  produce 
stems  three  to  four  feet  in  diameter.  Both  are  timber-trees  of  the  first  class,  and  both,  should 
they  thrive  in  this  country,  may  be  expected  to  add  beauty  and  interest  to  our  parks  and 
plantations.  The  smaller,  shorter  acorn  of  Quercus  crispula  appears  to  offer  the  only  char- 
acter for  distinguishing  the  two  trees;  in  their  port,  bark,  and  foliage  they  were  indistin- 
guishable to  my  eyes. 

The  fourth  Japanese  White  Oak,  Quercus  glandulifera,  ranges  in  Yezo  nearly  as  far  north 
as  Sapporo,  although  it  is  only  south  of  Volcano  Bay  that  it  is  really  abundant.  This,  the 
common  Oak  of  the  high  mountains  of  central  Japan  at  elevations  over  3,000  feet,  is  probably 
the  most  widely  distributed  species  of  the  empire ;  it  is  a  pretty  tree,  rarely  more  than  thirty 
or  forty  feet  high,  although  on  the  hills  above  Fukushima,  on  the  Nakasendo,  we  saw 
specimens  nearly  twice  that  height.  The  leaves  are  narrowly  obovate  or  lanceolate-acute, 
glandular-serrate,  pale  or  nearly  white  on  the  lower  surface,  and  from  one  to  four  inches  in 
length.  The  acorns  are  small,  acute,  and  inclosed  at  the  base  only  by  the  shallow  thin- 
walled  cups  covered  with  minute  appressed  scales.  Like  many  American  Oaks,  this  species 
varies  remarkably  in  the  size  of  individuals,  and  in  some  parts  of  the  country  traversed  by  the 
Nakasendo  we  found  plants  only  a  foot  high  covered  with  acorns.  This  Oak  was  sent  to  the 
Arnold  Arboretum  many  years  ago  from  Segrez  by  Monsieur  Lavallee.  It  is  perfectly  hardy 
here,  and  has  flowered  for  years,  although  it  remains  a  bush,  making  no  attempt  to  grow  into 
a  tree. 

Of  the  other  deciduous-leaved  Oaks,  Quercus  serrata,  one  of  the  most  widely  distributed 
of  the  Asiatic  species,  ranging,  as  it  does,  from  Japan  to  the  Indian  Himalaya,  is  common  in 
dry  soil  near  the  coast  below  Yokohama  and  on  the  foothills  of  the  mountains  of  central 
Hondo.  It  is  a  small  tree,  twenty  to  forty  feet  high,  with  a  slender  black-barked  trunk  and 
beautiful  dark  green  lustrous  oblong  acute  leaves,  their  coarse  teeth  ending  in  long  slender 
mucros,  and  with  small  acorns  inclosed  in  cups  covered  with  long,  loose,  twisted,  and  reflexed 
scales  coated  with  soft  pale  tomentum.  In  Japan  this  tree  appears  to  spring  up  in  waste 
lands  in  great  numbers ;  it  is  only  valued  for  the  charcoal  which  is  made  from  it. 

Quercus  variabilis,  a  nobler  tree  of  the  same  general  character,  we  saw  only  in  the  grounds 
of  a  temple  near  Nakatsu-gawa,  on  the  Nakasendo,  where  there  were  specimens  fully  eighty 
feet  high,  with  tall  straight  trunks  three  or  four  feet  in  diameter,  covered  with  thick  pale 
corky  bark,  which  is  sometimes  used  by  the  Japanese  for  the  same  purposes  that  we  use  the 


PLATE  XXIII. 


^/7w^M-^*^-/; 

:  /  /, ,.  fwitofeT^MftMU  ,F^E£rA,l 


QUERCUS  DENTATA,  THUNB. 


THE   OAK  FAMILY.  69 

bark  of  the  Cork  Oak.  The  leaves  are  oblong-oval,  pointed,  less  coarsely  toothed  than  those 
of  Quercus  serrata,  dark  green  and  lustrous  above,  and  pale,  or  nearly  white,  below.  From 
Quercus  serrata,  too,  it  differs  in  the  smaller  cups  and  in  their  shorter  thicker  scales.  A 
number  of  plants  have  been  raised  in  the  Arboretum  from  the  acorns  which  we  picked  up 
under  these  trees,  and  if  they  are  not  hardy  here  in  New  England  they  will  certainly  thrive  in 
the  middle  states. 

It  is  impossible  to  know  whether  many  of  the  evergreen  Oaks  which  we  saw  in  Japan  were 
growing  naturally  or  had  been  planted.  In  the  gardens  and  temple  grounds  of  Tokyo, 
Yokohama,  Kyoto,  and  other  southern  cities  evergreen  Oaks  are  the  commonest  trees ;  but  we 
did  not  see  them  growing  in  the  forest  except  near  temples.  The  species  most  frequently 
seen  in  Tokyo  and  Yokohama  are  Quercus  cuspidata  and  Quercus  glauca ;  they  are  both  large 
and  beautiful  trees,  said  to  be  particularly  conspicuous  in  early  spring  from  the  bright  red 
color  of  their  young  shoots  and  new  leaves,  which  at  that  season  make  a  charming  contrast 
with  the  dark  and  lustrous  green  of  the  older  foliage.  They  should  be  introduced  into  our 
southern  states,  where,  probably,  all  the  Japanese  evergreen  Oaks  will  flourish.  The  wood 
produced  by  Quercus  cuspidata  and  Quercus  glauca  does  not  appear  to  be  valued  in  Japan, 
but  the  acorns  of  the  latter  are  of  considerable  commercial  importance,  and  are  cooked  and 
eaten  by  the  Japanese. 

Quercus  acuta,  which  is  also  much  planted  in  Tokyo,  we  saw  growing  to  the  height  of 
more  than  eighty  feet,  with  Quercus  variabilis,  in  the  temple  grounds  at  Nakatsu-gawa,  and 
also  near  the  temple  of  Higane,  near  Atami,  on  the  coast.  It  is  a  noble  tree,  with  ovate, 
acute,  long-pointed,  dark  green,  thick,  and  lustrous  leaves.  Quercus  acuta  has  been  intro- 
duced into  English  gardens,  with  a  number  of  other  evergreen  Japanese  Oaks,  through  the 
efforts  of  the  Veitches,  who  obtained  it  some  years  ago  from  their  collector,  Maries.  But  the 
finest  Oak-tree,  and  perhaps  the  finest  tree  which  we  saw  in  Japan,  was  a  specimen  of  Quercus 
gilva  in  the  temple  grounds  at  Nara,  where  there  are  a  number  of  remarkable  specimens  of 
this  beautiful  species,  which  is  distinguished  by  its  lanceolate-acute  leaves,  which  are  glandular- 
serrate  only  above  the  middle,  bright  green  on  the  upper,  and  thickly  coated  on  the  lower 
surface,  like  the  young  branches,  with  pale  or  slightly  ferrugineous  tomentum.  The  largest 
of  these  Nara  trees  was  probably  a  hundred  feet  high,  with  a  trunk  covered  with  pale  scaly 
bark,  which,  breast-high  from  the  ground,  girthed  just  over  twenty-one  feet ;  it  rose  without 
a  branch,  and  with  little  diminution  of  diameter,  for  something  like  fifty  feet,  and  then 
separated  into  a  number  of  stout  horizontal  branches,  which  had  not  grown  to  a  great 
length,  and  formed  a  narrow  cylindrical  round-topped  head. 

Of  the  other  Japanese  Oaks,  Quercus  Thalassica,  Quercus  Vibrayiana,  and  Quercus  glabra, 
we  only  saw  occasional  plants  in  gardens.  The  Quercus  lacera  of  Blume  we  did  not  see 
at  all. 

The  Chestnut-tree  is  widely  distributed  through  the  mountain  forests  of  Japan,  and  seems 
to  have  received  some  attention  as  a  fruit-tree  from  the  Japanese,  who  recognize  a  number  of 
large-fruited  varieties.  Very  large  chestnuts  appear  in  profusion  in  the  markets  of  Aomori, 
and  are  said  to  be  produced  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  that  northern  town.  But  the 
largest  chestnuts  of  Japan,  which  equal  in  size  the  best  marrons  of  southern  Europe,  are 


70  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

found  in  the  markets  of  Kobe  and  Osaka.  It  is  these  Kobe  marrons  which  are  now  sent  to 
San  Francisco  in  considerable  quantities.  Rein,  whose  book  on  the  industries  of  Japan  con- 
tains the  fullest  and  most  exact  account  of  Japanese  rural  economy  which  has  yet  been  written, 
believed  that  the  chestnut  was  less  used  in  Japan  as  an  article  of  human  food  than  in  Europe, 
but  I  have  never  seen  chestnuts  offered  in  such  quantities  in  the  markets  of  any  American  or 
European  city  as  in  those  of  Tokyo  and  other  Japanese  towns.  The  Chestnut-trees  which  we 
saw  had  the  appearance  of  growing  spontaneously  ;  and  we  saw  nothing  like  an  orchard  of 
these  trees,  which,  so  far  as  we  were  able  to  observe,  are  not  planted  near  dwellings  or  temples 
or  for  shade.  In  Japan  the  Chestnut-tree  grows  at  least  as  far  north  as  central  Yezo,  and  is 
scattered  through  the  mountain  forests  of  Hondo,  where  it  is  most  abundant  at  elevations  of 
about  2,500  feet  above  the  ocean,  growing  on  steep  slopes  in  small  open  groves  or  mixed  with 
trees  of  other  kinds.  We  saw  no  evidences  that  the  Chestnut-tree  grows  in  Japan  to  the 
noble  dimensions  it  sometimes  reaches  in  Europe  and  on  the  slopes  of  the  southern  Alleghany 
Mountains,  and  specimens  over  thirty  feet  high,  with  trunks  more  than  a  foot  in  diameter, 
were  rare  in  that  part  of  the  country  which  we  visited.  The  Japanese  Chestnut  appears 
to  be  more  precocious  than  the  American  tree,  and  saplings  only  ten  or  twelve  feet  high  are 
often  covered  with  fruit.  The  large-fruited  northern  form  from  the  neighborhood  of  Aomori 
should  be  brought  to  this  country,  as  it  may  be  expected  to  support  a  greater  degree  of 
cold  than  the  French  or  Kobe  Marrons,  and,  therefore,  to  be  available  for  cultivation  much 
farther  north  here.  By  its  introduction  it  is  possible  that  marron-growing  may  become  a 
profitable  industry  in  states  with  climates  as  severe  as  those  of  Wisconsin,  Michigan,  and 
Massachusetts. 

The  Beech  in  Japan  is  one  of  the  noblest  trees  of  the  forest,  as  it  is  in  eastern  North 
America  and  in  Europe.  Its  range  is  similar  to  that  of  the  Horse-chestnut,  in  the  north 
appearing  on  the  shores  of  Volcano  Bay  in  Yezo  only  a  few  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
ocean,  and  extending  southward  along  the  mountains  of  the  other  islands.  It  is,  perhaps,  the 
commonest  deciduous  tree  of  the  mountains  of  Hondo,  where,  between  3,000  and  4,000  feet, 
or  toward  the  upper  limits  of  the  deciduous  forest,  it  sometimes  covers  wide  areas,  nearly  to  the 
exclusion  of  other  trees,  or  sometimes  grows  mixed  with  Oaks,  Chestnuts,  and  occasional  Firs 
and  Spruces.  Trees  eighty  or  ninety  feet  tall,  with  trunks  more  than  three  feet  in  diameter, 
are  not  uncommon.  The  fact  that  Beech-wood  is  little  used  by  the  Japanese,  and  the  com- 
paratively inaccessible  situations  where  it  is  mostly  found,  account,  no  doubt,  for  the  abundance 
of  this  tree  in  Japan  and  the  existence  of  so  many  large  individuals.  This,  the  Asiatic  form 
of  the  European  Fagus  sylvatica,  is  hardly  to  be  distinguished  from  the  European  tree,  which 
it  resembles  in  every  essential  character.  The  variety  Sieboldii  (the  Fagus  Sieboldii  of 
Endlicher)  I  looked  for  in  vain,  and  I  hazard  the  opinion  that  it  will  turn  out  to  be  a  tree  of 
the  herbarium  and  not  of  the  forest. 

I  can  throw  no  light  upon  the  Japanese  Willows  which  abound  at  the  north  in  numerous 
continental  mostly  shrubby  forms ;  they  require  more  careful  investigation  than  it  was  possi- 
ble to  give  them  during  our  hurried  autumnal  visit,  when  the  flowers  and  fruit  had  disap- 
peared. On  the  streets  of  Europeanized  Tokyo,  Willows  are  now  chiefly  planted  as  shade- 
trees  ;  they  are  the  Weeping  Willow  (Salix  Babylonica),  an  inhabitant  of  China,and  a  favorite 


THE    WILLOW  FAMILY.  71 

with  the  Japanese,  and  Salix  eriocarpa  of  Franchet  &  Savatier,  a  species  which  we  saw 
growing  by  river-banks  on  the  Nakasendo,  and  which  looks  too  much  like  Salix  alba  to  be 
distinct  from  that  species  which  might  be  expected  to  reach  Japan.  But  the  handsomest 
Willow  we  saw  in  Japan,  and  certainly  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  all  Willows,  is  Salix 
subfragilis,  which  appears  to  be  confined  to  Japan,  where  it  was  discovered  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Hakodate  by  Charles  Wright.  We  were  first  struck  by  the  beauty  of  this  tree 
between  Nikko  and  Lake  Chuzenji,  where  there  are  a  few  specimens  on  the  banks  of  the 
mountain  torrent  which  the  road  follows  in  ascending  the  mountains.  It  was  at  Sapporo, 
however,  that  this  Willow  appeared  in  its  greatest  beauty ;  here  on  the  banks  of  streams  Salix 
subfragilis  forms  trees  at  least  fifty  feet  in  height,  with  short  stout  trunks  three  or  four  feet 
in  diameter,  covered  with  thick  deeply  furrowed  bark,  and  stout  branches  which  spread  nearly 
at  right  angles,  like  those  of  an  old  pasture  Oak.  The  leaves  are  oblong,  acute,  rounded  at 
the  base,  and  coarsely  crenulate-serrate ;  they  are  borne  on  stems  an  inch  and  a  half  in  length, 
and  are  six  or  seven  inches  long,  two  or  two  and  a  half  inches  broad,  dark  green  and  lustrous 
on  the  upper  surface,  and  silvery  white  on  the  lower ;  the  stipules  are  foliaceous,  obliquely 
rounded,  and  rather  more  than  half  an  inch  across.  This  Willow  appears  to  be  one  of  the 
most  desirable  trees  to  introduce  into  our  collections,  and  the  only  Japanese  Willow  we  saw 
of  real  value,  from  a  horticultural  point  of  view. 

Populus  is  poorly  represented  in  Japan ;  the  two  species  which  are  found  in  the  empire  are 
both  of  Old  World  types,  and  there  is  nothing  which  corresponds  to  the  Cottonwoods,  which 
line  the  river-banks  in  all  the  central  and  western  regions  of  this  continent.  The  Aspen  of 
Europe  appears  in  one  of  its  forms  in  Japan  (Populus  tremula,  var.  villosa),  looking,  however, 
so  distinct  from  the  continental  Aspen  that  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  it  is  not  specifically 
distinct ;  it  is  the  Populus  Sieboldii  of  Miquel,  the  oldest  name.  This  tree  is  not  rare  in 
southern  Yezo,  where  it  grows  to  the  height  of  twenty  or  thirty  feet,  springing  up  in  consid- 
erable numbers  on  dry,  gravelly  soil.  We  saw  it  in  the  greatest  perfection  on  the  plains 
south  of  Mori,  on  Volcano  Bay,  and  less  commonly  on  the  mountains  near  Aomori  in  Hondo. 
Of  the  second  species,  the  Populus  suaveolens  of  Fisher,  we  encountered  a  few  individuals  in 
southern  Yezo,  where  it  is  probably  near  the  southern  limit  of  its  range,  it  being  a  tree  of 
Saghalin  and  the  Amour  country.  It  is  evidently  only  a  form  of  the  Balsam  Poplar,  which  is 
found  in  all  northern  regions,  where,  especially  in  some  parts  of  British  America,  it  constitutes 
by  far  the  largest  part  of  the  forest-growth.  In  Japan  the  Balsam  Poplar  grows  to  an 
immense  size,  and  some  individuals  which  we  saw  were  certainly  eighty  and  perhaps  a 
hundred  feet  tall,  with  long  trunks  five  or  six  feet  in  diameter,  rising  like  sentinels  above 
the  low  mostly  second-growth  forests  of  southern  Hokkaido. 


THE   CONIFERS. 

IN  cone-bearing  plants  Japan  is  somewhat  richer  than  eastern  America.  All  of  our  gen- 
era, with  the  exception  of  Taxodium,  the  Bald  Cypress  of  the  southern  states,  are  represented 
in  the  empire,  where  two  endemic  genera  occur,  Cryptomeria  and  Sciadopytis,  and  where 
Cephalotaxus  and,  perhaps,  Cupressus  have  representatives.  In  cone-bearing  species,  too, 
owing  to  the  greater  multiplication  of  forms  of  Abies,  Japan  is  richer  than  eastern  America, 
where  we  have  only  two  indigenous  Firs.  The  genus  Pinus,  which  furnishes  a  very  consider- 
able part  of  the  forest-growth  on  the  Atlantic  seacoast,  and  which  is  represented  here  by 
thirteen  species,  has  only  five  in  Japan ;  and  of  these  two  are  small  trees  of  high  altitudes 
and  one  is  an  alpine  shrub.  Japan  is  richer  than  eastern  America  in  Spruces,  of  which  we 
have  only  two,  in  Chamsecyparis,  and  in  Juniperus.  The  two  floras  each  contain  a  single 
Thuya,  a  Taxus,  a  Tumion,  two  Hemlocks,  and  a  Larch.  In  Japan,  Conifers  are  more 
planted  for  shade  and  ornament  than  they  are  in  America,  or,  perhaps,  in  any  other  country, 
although,  except  above  5,000  feet  in  Hondo,  where  there  are  continuous  forests  of  Hemlock, 
they  form  a  small  part  of  the  composition  of  indigenous  forest-growth  ;  and  forests  of  Pines, 
Spruces,  or  Firs,  such  striking  features  in  many  parts  of  this  country,  do  not  occur,  except, 
perhaps,  in  northern  Yezo,  which  we  did  not  visit,  and  where  there  are  said  to  be  great  forests 
of  Abies  Sachalinensis. 

The  Japanese  Arbor-vitse,  Thuya  Japonica,  which  is  sometimes  found  in  our  plantations 
under  the  name  of  Thuyopsis  Standishii,  and  which  is  more  like  the  species  of  the  northwest 
coast  (Thuya  gigantea)  than  our  eastern  Arbor-vita?  or  Yellow  Cedar,  appears  to  be  a  rare  tree 
in  Japan,  and  we  saw  only  a  few  solitary  individuals  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Chuzenji  and  of 
Lake  Yumoto  in  the  Nikko  Mountains.  Here  it  was  a  formal  pyramidal  tree  twenty  or  thirty 
feet  high,  with  pale  green  foliage  and  bright  red  bark. 

Thuyopsis  dolobrata,  which  is,  perhaps,  best  considered  a  Cupressus  rather  than  a  Thuya, 
is  a  tree  of  high  altitudes.  In  the  Nikko  Mountains  above  Lake  Yumoto  it  is  common  between 
5,000  and  6,000  feet  above  the  sea-level,  growing  as  an  under-shrub  under  the  shade  of  dense 
Hemlock  forests,  and  here,  in  favorable  positions,  sometimes  finally  rising  to  the  height  of 
forty  or  fifty  feet,  with  a  slender  trunk  covered  with  bright  red  bark,  long  pendulous  grace- 
ful lower  branches,  and  a  narrow  pyramidal  top.  This  handsome  tree  finds  its  northern  home 
on  the  mountains  which  surround  the  Bay  of  Aomori,  in  northern  Hondo.  It  is  a  species 
which  evidently  requires  shade,  at  least  while  young,  and  even  the  older  plants,  where  we  saw 
them,  were  always  surrounded  and  overtopped  by  taller  trees.  The  elevation  at  which  this 
tree  grows  indicates  that  it  should  prove  hardy  here  if  properly  protected  from  the  sun,  espe- 
cially during  the  winter,  for  in  Japan  the  young  plants  are  not  only  shaded  by  the  coniferous 
forest  above  them,  but  are  buried  during  several  months  under  a  continuous  covering  of 
snow.  Under  proper  conditions  this  tree  will  be  found  to  be  one  of  the  best  plants  to  form 


THE  CONIFERS.  73 

undergrowth  in  coniferous  forests.  The  wood  is  considered  valuable,  and,  owing  to  its  dura- 
bility, is  used  in  boat  and  bridge  building.  We  saw  planted  trees  in  the  coniferous  forests 
on  the  mountain-slopes  near  Nakatsu-gawa,  in  the  valley  of  the  Kisogawa,  but  no  other 
indication  that  it  is  valued  as  a  timber  or  ornamental  tree  by  the  Japanese,  who,  according 
to  Dupont,1  have  produced  a  number  of  varieties,  of  which  the  one  with  variegated  foliage 
only  has  reached  our  gardens. 

Of  all  the  Japanese  Conifers  the  most  valuable  is  the  Hi-no-ki,  Chama3cyparis  (Retinospora) 
obtusa.  In  the  forests  planted  on  the  lower  slopes  of  mountains  in  the  interior  of  Hondo,  and 
in  some  of  the  temple  groves,  notably  in  those  of  Nikko,  this  fine  tree  attains  a  height  of  a 
hundred  feet,  with  a  straight  trunk  without  branches  for  fifty  or  sixty  feet,  and  three  feet 
through  at  the  ground.  At  elevations  between  2,000  and  3,000  feet  above  the  sea,  usually 
on  northern  slopes  and  in  granitic  soil,  which  it  seems  to  prefer,  the  Hi-no-ki  is  largely 
planted  as  a  timber-tree  ;  indeed,  only  the  Cryptomeria,  which  seems  to  be  less  particular  about 
soil  and  exposure,  is  more  planted  for  timber  in  Japan.  The  tree  is  sacred  among  the  disci- 
ples of  the  Shinto  faith,  and  is,  therefore,  cultivated  in  the  neighborhood  of  all  Shinto  temples, 
which  are  built  exclusively  from  Hi-no-ki  wood.  The  palaces  of  the  Mikado  in  Kyoto  were 
always  made  of  it,  and  the  roof  was  covered  with  long  strips  of  the  bark.  It  is  considered  the 
best  wood  to  lacquer  ;  at  festivals  food  and  drink  are  offered  to  the  gods  on  an  unlacquered 
table  of  this  wood,  and  the  victim  of  harakari  received  the  dagger  upon  a  table  of  the 
same  material.  It  is  used  for  the  frames  of  Buddhist  temples  and  for  the  interior  of  the 
most  carefully  finished  and  expensive  houses.  The  wood  is  white  or  straw-color,  or  sometimes 
pink,  and  in  grade,  texture,  and  perfume  resembles  that  of  the  Alaska  Cedar,  Chamsecyparis 
Nootkatensis.  Like  the  wood  of  that  tree,  it  has  a  beautiful  lustrous  surface,  and  is  straight- 
grained,  light,  strong,  and  tough,  and  remarkably  free  from  knots  and  resin.  In  America  we 
have  no  wood  of  its  class  which  equals  it  in  value,  with  the  exception  of  that  furnished  by  the 
two  species  of  Chamsecyparis  of  the  Pacific  coast,  and  the  Hi-no-ki  might  be  introduced  with 
advantage  as  a  timber-tree  into  those  parts  of  the  eastern  states  where  it  could  find  condi- 
tions which  would  insure  its  growth.  It  has  proved  perfectly  hardy  in  this  country  as  far 
north  as  Massachusetts,  but  the  sea-level  or  the  dry  summers  here  do  not  suit  any  of  the 
Retinosporas,  which  give  no  promise  of  long  life  or  great  usefulness  anywhere  on  the  Atlantic 
seaboard.  They  should  be  tried,  however,  on  the  slopes  of  the  southern  Alleghanies  where 
they  could  find  conditions  not  very  unlike  those  in  which  they  flourish  in  their  native  land. 

The  second  species  of  this  genus,  Chanisecyparis  pisifera,  the  Sawara,  is  a  less  valuable  tree 
than  the  Hi-no-ki,  although  the  two  species  are  always  found  growing  together  in  plantations 
and  in  temple  gardens ;  indeed,  they  can  only  be  distinguished  after  some  practice,  unless  the 
cones  are  examined,  although  after  a  few  days  among  them  the  more  ragged  crown,  with  its 
looser  and  more  upright  branches,  of  the  Sawara  stands  out  clearly  to  the  eye  in  contrast  with 
the  Hi-no-ki  with  its  rounder  top  and  more  pendulous  branchlets.  The  wood  is  of  a  reddish 
color,  of  a  rougher  grain,  and  less  valuable  than  that  of  the  Hi-no-ki,  although  the  two  trees 
are  planted  in  about  equal  numbers.  As  it  grows  here  in  our  gardens,  Chamaecyparis  pisifera 
is  a  less  ornamental  plant  than  Chamaecyparis  obtusa ;  it  grows,  however,  more  vigorously,  and 

1  Les  Essences  Forestieres  du  Japan. 


74  FOEEST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

promises  to  live  longer  and  attain  a  greater  size.  All  the  other  Retinosporas  of  our  gardens 
are  juvenile  or  monstrous  forms  of  these  two  trees.  Some  of  the  dwarf  forms  are  much  culti- 
vated in  Japan  especially  as  pot-plants,  but  they  are  not  as  popular  there  as  I  had  heen  led 
to  expect,  and  are  most  often  seen  in  the  nursery-gardens  of  the  treaty  ports,  where  they  are 
collected  to  please  the  fancy  of  foreign  purchasers. 

The  most  generally  planted  timber-tree  of  Japan  is  the  Sugi,  Cryptomeria  Japonica,  and  its 
wood  is  more  universally  used  throughout  the  empire  than  that  of  any  other  Conifer.  It  is 
one  of  the  common  trees  of  temple  gardens  and  roadside  plantations,  and,  when  seen  at  its 
best,  as  in  the  temple  groves  of  Nikko  or  Nara,  where  it  rises  to  the  height  of  a  hundred  or  a 
hundred  and  twenty-five  feet,  with  a  tall  shaft-like  stem  tapering  abruptly  from  a  broad  base, 
covered  with  bright  cinnamon-red  bark  and  crowned  with  a  regular  conical  dark  green  head, 
it  is  a  beautiful  and  stately  tree  which  has  no  rival  except  in  the  Sequoias  of  California. 
Great  planted  forests  of  the  Cryptomeria  appear  all  over  Hondo  on  broken  foothills  and 
mountain-slopes  up  to  elevations  of  nearly  3,000  feet  above  the  sea,  low  valleys  and  good 
soil  being  usually  selected  for  such  plantations,  as  the  trees  need  protection  from  high  winds. 
The  plantations  decrease  in  size  and  luxuriance  in  northern  Hondo,  and  the  cultivation  of  the 
Sugi  does  not  appear  to  be  attempted  north  of  Hakodate,  where  there  is  a  grove  of  small 
trees  on  the  slope  of  the  hill  above  the  town.  The  wood  is  coarse-grained,  with  thick  layers 
of  annual  growth,  dark  reddish  heartwood,  and  thick  pale  sapwood ;  it  is  easily  worked, 
strong  and  durable,  and  is  employed  in  all  sorts  of  construction.  The  bark,  which  is  careful'ly 
stripped  from  the  trees  when  they  are  cut  down,  is  an  important  article  of  commerce,  and  is 
used  to  cover  the  roofs  of  houses.  A  large  round  bunch  of  branchlets  covered  with  their 
leaves  hung  over  the  door  of  a  shop  is  the  familiar  sign  of  the  dealer  in  sake. 

Japan  owes  much  of  the  beauty  of  its  groves  and  gardens  to  the  Cryptomeria.  Nowhere 
is  there  a  more  solemn  and  impressive  group  of  trees  than  that  which  surrounds  the  temples 
and  tombs  at  Nikko,  and  the  long  avenue  of  this  tree,  under  which  the  descendants  of 
leyasu  traveled  from  the  capital  of  the  Shoguns  to  do  honor  to  the  burial-place  of  the 
founder  of  the  Tokugawa  dynasty,  has  not  its  equal  in  stately  grandeur.  This  avenue,  if  the 
story  told  of  its  origin  is  true,  can  teach  a  useful  lesson,  and  carries  hope  to  the  heart  of  the 
planter  of  trees,  who  will  see  in  it  a  monument  more  lasting  than  those  which  men  sometimes 
erect  in  stone  or  bronze  in  the  effort  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  their  greatness.  When  the 
body  of  leyasu  was  laid  in  its  last  resting-place  on  the  Nikko  hills,  his  successor  in  the  Shogun- 
ate  called  upon  the  Daimyos  of  the  empire  to  send  each  a  stone  or  a  bronze  lantern  to  deco- 
rate the  grounds  about  the  mortuary  temples.  All  complied  with  the  order  but  one  man, 
who,  too  poor  to  send  a  lantern,  offered  instead  to  plant  trees  beside  the  road,  that  visitors  to 
the  tomb  might  be  protected  from  the  heat  of  the  sun.  The  offer  was  fortunately  accepted, 
and  so  well  was  the  work  done  that  the  poor  man's  offering  surpasses  in  value  a  thousand-fold 
those  of  all  his  less  fortunate  contemporaries. 

Something  of  the  stateliness  of  this  avenue  appears  in  our  illustration  (Plate  xxiv.) 
although,  without  the  aid  of  colors,  it  is  impossible  to  give  an  idea  of  the  beauty  of  the  Cryp- 
tomeria. The  planted  avenue  extends  practically  all  the  way  from  Tokyo  to  Nikko,  but  it 
is  only  when  the  road  reaches  the  foothills  that  it  passes  between  rows  of  Cryptomerias,  the 


a 


5 


THE  CONIFERS.  75 

lower  part  being  planted,  as  is  the  case  with  the  other  great  highways  of  Japan,  with  Pine- 
trees  ;  nor  is  this  avenue  continuous,  as  has  often  been  stated,  for  whenever  a  village  occurs 
or  one  of  the  roadside  tea-houses,  which  are  scattered  all  along  the  road,  there  is  a  break  in 
the  rows  of  trees,  and  it  is  only  in  some  particular  spots  that  a  long  view  of  continuous  trees  is 
obtained.  The  railroad,  which  follows  parallel  and  close  to  the  avenue  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance and  then  crosses  it  just  before  the  Nikko  station  is  reached,  is  a  serious  injury  to  it. 
The  trees,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  illustration,  are  planted  on  high  banks  made  by  throwing  up 
the  surface-soil  from  the  roadway ;  they  are  usually  planted  in  double  rows,  and  often  so  close 
together  that  sometimes  two  or  three  trees  have  become  united  by  a  process  of  natural  graft- 
ing. Young  trees  are  constantly  put  in  to  fill  gaps,  and  every  care  apparently  is  taken 
to  preserve  and  protect  the  avenue.  How  many  of  the  trees  originally  planted  when  the 
road  was  first  laid  out  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  are  left  it  is  impossible 
to  say,  but  I  suspect  that  most  of  those  now  standing  are  of  much  later  date.  One  of  the 
trees  close  to  the  upper  end  of  the  road  which  had  been  injured  by  fire  was  cut  down  during 
our  visit  to  Nikko.  The  stump,  breast-high  above  the  ground,  measured  four  feet  across  inside 
the  bark,  and  showed  only  one  hundred  and  five  layers  of  annual  growth.  Few  of  the  trees 
in  the  avenue  were  much  larger  than  this,  although  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  temples  there 
are  a  few  which  girt  over  twenty  feet ;  these  were  probably  planted  when  the  grounds  were 
first  laid  out. 

The  two,  Chamsecyparis  and  the  Cryptomeria,  the  most  valuable  timber-trees  in  Japan,  are 
now  almost  unknown  in  a  wild  state.  They  may,  perhaps,  be  found  growing  naturally  on 
some  of  the  southern  mountains  which  we  did  not  visit ;  but  wherever  we  went,  we  saw  only 
trees  that  had  been  planted  by  man,  although  some  of  the  plantations  had  evidently  lived 
through  several  centuries. 

Cephalotaxus  drupacea  is  the  only  Japanese  member  and  the  type  of  a  genus  of  half  a 
dozen  species  distributed  from  Japan,  through  China  to  northern  India.  It  is  widely  and  quite 
generally  scattered  through  the  mountain  regions  of  the  empire,  extending  north  to  central 
Yezo,  where  it  appears  on  the  low  hills  as  an  under-shrub  only  two  or  three  feet  high,  while 
on  the  Hakone  Mountains,  in  Hondo,  it  occasionally  grows  into  a  bushy  tree  twenty  or  twenty- 
five  feet  in  height.  Cephalotaxus  drupacea  is  now  common  in  our  gardens,  although  it  is  not 
very  hardy  or  satisfactory  here  in  New  England,  where  it  often  suffers  in  winter,  missing, 
no  doubt,  the  thick  and  continuous  covering  of  snow  which  protects  it  in  Yezo.  Like  its 
relative,  the  Gingko,  the  same  individual  does  not  produce  male  and  female  flowers,  and 
the  fruit,  like  that  of  the  Gingko,  is  an  almond-like  nut  inclosed  in  a  fleshy  covering.  A  res- 
inous oil,  used  in  lamps,  is  pressed  from  the  seeds,  and  the  wood  is  occasionally  employed  in 
cabinet-making. 

The  Gingko,  although  we  are  in  the  habit  of  associating  it  with  Japan,  is  in  reality  not  a 
native  of  that  country,  into  which  it  was  brought  with  their  religion  by  the  Buddhist  priests. 
It  is  still  unknown  in  a  wild  state,  and  it  is  possible  that  this  genus,  Avhich  was  widely  distrib- 
uted with  many  species  through  the  temperate  and  colder  parts  of  the  northern  hemisphere  in 
tertiary  times,  has  become  exterminated  from  its  native  forests,  and  has  only  been  preserved 
through  the  agency  of  the  priests  of  Buddha,  who  seem  to  hold  it  in  particular  respect.  The 


76  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

hardiness  of  this  beautiful  tree,  which  thrives  under  the  most  trying  conditions  and  in  the 
severest  climates,  indicates  that  it  originated  in  some  northern  interior  region ;  and  if  it  is 
ever  seen  growing  without  cultivation  it  will  probably  be  in  some  remote  district  of  Mongolia. 
There  are  noble  great  broad-branched  specimens  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  temples  in 
Tokyo  fully  a  hundred  feet  high,  with  tall  massive  trunks  six  or  seven  feet  in  diameter.  The 
Gingko  is,  perhaps,  the  most  beautiful,  as  it  is  certainly  the  most  interesting  tree  which  is 
to  be  seen  in  Japan ;  and  in  the  autumn,  especially  when  the  sunlight  flutters  through  the 
bright  yellow  leaves,  these  great  trees,  with  their  broad  heads  of  graceful  semipendulous 
branches,  are  magnificent  objects.  The  fleshy  covering  of  the  fruit  has  a  rancid  and  most 
disagreeable  flavor,  but  the  kernel  of  the  almond-like  stone  is  delicate  and  is  esteemed  a  lux- 
ury in  both  China  and  Japan,  where  it  is  found  in  the  markets  in  considerable  quantity. 
The  wood,  which  is  light  yellow  in  color,  is  soft  and  brittle,  and  as  the  trees  grow  to  a  very 
great  age  and  are  planted  only  for  ornament  in  Japan  and  rarely  cut  down,  it  has  no  economic 
importance  there. 

Torreya,  or,  if  the  custom  which  now  prevails  among  American  botanists  is  followed, 
Tumion,  Rafinesque's  name,  which  also  appears  in  eastern  and  western  America  and  in  China, 
occurs  in  Japan  in  its  largest  and  most  beautiful  representative,  Tumion  nuciferum,  one  of  the 
handsomest  of  all  coniferous  trees.  Although  nowhere  very  common,  the  Kaya,  as  this  tree 
is  called  in  Japan,  was  seen  in  all  the  mountainous  regions  of  central  Hondo  which  we  visited. 
It  often  grows  as  an  under-shrub  in  the  forest,  or  as  a  small  tree  twenty  or  thirty  feet  tall, 
but  occasionally  rises  to  the  dignity  of  a  tree  of  the  first  class,  as  on  the  banks  of  the 
Kisogawa,  near  Agematsu,  where  we  saw  specimens  fully  eighty  feet  high,  with  great  trunks 
four  or  five  feet  in  diameter.  Such  trees,  with  their  bright  red  bark  and  compact  heads  of 
dark  green,  almost  black  lustrous  foliage,  possess  extraordinary  beauty.  No  other  Yew-like 
tree  which  I  have  seen  equals  it  in  massiveness  and  depth  of  color,  and  the  Kaya  should  be 
cultivated  wherever  the  climate  permits  it  to  display  its  beauty.  The  elevation  above  the  sea 
at  which  it  flourishes  in  Japan  indicates  that  it  will  be  hardy  in  the  middle  states,  although 
we  cannot  expect  to  see  it  grow  to  any  size  in  New  England.  An  oil  used  in  cooking,  kaya- 
no-abura,  is  an  article  of  considerable  commerce  in  Japan,  and  the  kernels  of  the  nuts,  which 
possess  an  agreeable,  slightly  resinous  flavor,  are  sold  in  great  quantities  in  the  markets  in 
the  autumn,  and  are  a  favorite  article  of  food.  The  wood  is  strong,  straight-grained,  light 
yellow,  and  valued  in  building  and  cabinet-making. 

Taxus,  which  has  two  species  in  eastern  America,  one  in  the  north  and  another,  almost 
the  rarest  of  American  trees,  in  the  south,  which  is  represented  in  Avestern  North  America, 
and  is  widely  distributed  through  Europe  and  continental  Asia,  appears  in  Japan  with  a  noble 
tree,  Taxus  cuspidata,  which,  to  judge  by  our  observations,  is  confined  to  the  island  of  Yezo, 
where  it  is  not  uncommon  on  the  low  hills  of  the  interior.  Here  it  often  attains  the  height  of 
forty  or  fifty  feet,  and  forms  a  trunk  two  feet  in  diameter,  covered  with  bright  red  bark. 
The  Yew  is  often  employed  by  the  Japanese  to  ornament  their  gardens,  and  the  wood,  which 
is  exceedingly  hard,  tough,  and  of  a  bright  red  color,  is  used  by  the  Ainos  for  their  bows,  and 
is  valued  in  cabinet-making  and  for  the  interior  decorations  of  expensive  houses.  This  beau- 
tiful tree,  as  is  now  well  known,  flourishes  in  this  country,  where  it  has  proved  itself  perfectly 
hardy,  promising  to  be  really  valuable  as  an  ornamental  plant. 


THE   CONIFERS.  77 

It  is  not  thought  now  that  Podocarpus,  a  genus  of  the  tropical  and  subtropical  regions  of 
both  hemispheres  and  of  Tasmania,  is  indigenous  in  Japan,  although  two  species  are  often 
cultivated  there.  The  more  common  is  Podocarpus  macrophylla,  a  small  tree  with  lanceolate 
acute  leaves,  and  a  common  hedge-plant  in  Tokyo  gardens,  in  which  it  is  often  cut  into 
fantastic  shapes.  It  is  a  much  less  beautiful,  although  a  hardier,  tree  than  Podocarpus 
Nageia,  with  its  thick  broad  glossy  leaves  and  beautiful  purple  trunks,  the  second  species 
seen  in  Japan.  It  is  one  of  the  favorite  subjects,  especially  in  a  variety  in  which  the  leaves 
are  marked  by  broad  white  stripes,  for  dwarfing  and  pot-culture.  The  real  beauty  of  this 
tree  is  only  seen,  however,  when  it  has  become  large  and  old  and  the  trunk  is  covered  with  its 
peculiar  smooth  purple  bark.  A  grove  of  these  trees  on  the  hill  behind  the  Shinto  temples 
at  Nara  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  spots  in  Japan,  and  in  solemn  dignity  and  beauty  is 
only  surpassed  by  the  grove  of  Cryptomerias  which  surrounds  the  mausoleums  of  leyasu  and 
lemitsu  at  Nikko. 

Like  Crvptomeria,  Sciadopitys  is  monotypic  and  endemic  to  Japan.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
curious  and  interesting  of  trees,  with  scale-like  leaves  in  whose  axils  are  produced  the  phylloid 
shoots,  which  are  generally  mistaken  for  the  leaves,  and  which  are  arranged  near  the  ends  of 
the  branches  like  the  ribs  of  an  umbrella,  —  a  peculiarity  to  which  this  tree  owes  its  familiar 
English  name,  the  Umbrella  Pine.  Like  the  Gingko,  the  Sciadopitys  was  for  a  long  time 
known  only  from  a  few  individuals  cultivated  in  temple  gardens  and  from  the  grove  on  the 
hill  in  Kyushu,  where  the  ancient  monastery  town  of  Koya  stands,  to  which  the  Sciadopitys 
owes  its  Japanese  name,  Koya-maki.  There  is  said  to  be  a  remarkable  grove  of  these  trees 
here,  which  was  once  supposed  to  be  the  original  home  of  the  species ;  but  Rein  and  other 
writers  now  agree  in  thinking  that  they  were  originally  planted  by  the  monks.  Dupont  found 
what  he  considered  indigenous  trees  on  Chimono  and  in  the  province  of  Mino.  In  this  prov- 
ince, on  the  Nakasendo,  below  Nakatsu-gawa,  we  saw  young  plants  of  the  Koya-maki  in  all  the 
roadside  gardens,  a  pretty  sure  indication  in  this  remote  region  that  the  tree  was  growing  in 
the  woods  not  very  far  off,  and  here  for  the  next  two  or  three  days  we  saw  it  sending  up  its 
narrow  pyramidal  heads  above  the  Pines  and  other  trees  of  the  forest,  growing,  as  we  thought, 
quite  naturally,  and  leading  us  to  believe  that  we  had  found  the  true  home  of  this  tree, 
although  in  a  country  like  Japan,  which  has  been  densely  populated  for  centuries,  and  in 
which  tree-planting  has  been  a  recognized  industry  for  more  than  .a  thousand  years,  it  is  not 
easy  to  determine  whether  a  forest  has  been  planted  by  man  or  not.  But  whether  these  trees 
had  been  planted  or  whether  they  were  the  offspring  of  trees  brought  from  some  other  region, 
or  the  indigenous  inhabitants  of  the  forest,  the  Sciadopitys  grows  on  the  mountains  of  Mino 
in  countless  thousands,  often  rising  with  a  tall  straight  trunk  to  the  height  of  nearly  a  hun- 
dred feet,  and  remarkable  in  its  narrow  compact  pyramidal  head  of  dark  and  lustrous  foliage. 
The  wood,  which  is  nearly  white,  strong,  and  straight-grained,  is  a  regular  article  of  commerce 
in  this  part  of  Japan,  and  from  Nakatsu-gawa  is  floated  in  rafts  down  the  Kisogawa  to  Osaka, 
where  it  is  said  to  be  chiefly  consumed.  Except  in  the  neighborhood  of  Nakatsu-gawa,  the 
Sciadopitys  is  not  very  much  cultivated  as  a  garden-plant  in  Japan ;  and  it  is  not  often  found 
in  old  gardens,  except  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  temples,  where  picturesque  old  speci- 
mens may  occasionally  be  seen  occupying  a  place  of  honor  within  the  fence  which  incloses 


78  FOREST  FLOE  A   OF  JAPAN. 

the  principal  buildings,  and  carefully  protected  by  low  stone  railings.  There  is  a  remarkable 
specimen  with  pendulous  branches  standing  before  one  of  the  mortuary  temples  in  the  Shiba 
Park  in  Tokyo. 

In  Japan,  Junipers  are  much  less  common  than  they  are  in  eastern  America,  and  although 
five  or  six  species  are  included  in  the  Floras  of  the  empire,  the  genus  does  not  make  an  impor- 
tant element  of  the  landscape,  and  one  misses  the  dark  spires  which  Juniperus  Virginiuna 
sends  up  so  frequently  in  many  parts  of  eastern  America.  Juniperus  Chinensis  appears  to 
grow  to  a  larger  size  than  the  other  Japanese  species,  although  we  saw  it  in  only  one  region 
growing,  as  it  appeared,  without  cultivation.  This  was  on  the  high  volcanic  ridge  which 
dominates  the  Chikuma,  one  of  the  streams  which  flow  from  Asama-yama,  in  central  Japan. 
Over  this  elevated  and  inhospitable  region  occasional  Junipers  are  scattered,  the  largest 
attaining  a  height  of  thirty  or  forty  feet,  their  wind-swept  heads  and  straggling  branches, 
covered  with  gray-green  foliage,  adding  to  the  dreariness  of  the  scene.  Before  the  Buddhist 
temple  of  Zenkogi,  in  Nagano,  the  principal  city  in  this  part  of  Japan,  two  venerable  Junipers 
show  to  what  size  plants  of  this  species  can  grow,  and  how  picturesque  they  can  become. 
These  trees  are  seventy  or  eighty  feet  high ;  their  hollow  trunks,  which  are  rather  more  than 
six  feet  in  diameter,  support  narrow  heads  of  twisted  and  contorted  branches  clothed  with 
scanty  foliage,  and  indicate  that  centuries  may  well  have  passed  since  the  roots  of  these 
marvelous  trees  first  penetrated  this  sacred  soil.  On  the  rocky  cliffs  and  grassy  slopes  of  the 
coast,  fully  exposed  to  the  spray  of  the  ocean,  a  prostrate  variety  of  Juniperus  Chinensis  forms, 
with  its  long  creeping  stems,  dense  mats,  often  of  considerable  size.  It  is  said  to  be  a  feature 
of  the  littoral  vegetation  of  Japan ;  but  we  saw  only  a  few  plants  in  Yezo,  between  Mororan 
and  the  Aino  village  of  Horobetsu,  where  they  receive  the  unbroken  sweep  of  the  Pacific. 
On  the  sandy  dunes  of  the  Bay  of  Hakodate,  opposite  that  city,  another  littoral  Juniper  was 
found  by  the  American  botanist  Charles  Wright,  and  later  by  Maximowicz.  This  is  the 
Juniperus  conferta  of  Parlatore  (Juniperus  littoralis  of  Maximowicz),  a  species  distinguished 
by  its  stout  crowded  leaves  and  large  globose  fruit.  We  saw  it  on  Hakodate  Bay  at  the  end 
of  September,  and  Mr.  Veitch  collected  it  earlier  near  Han  jo,  on  the  west  coast  of  Hondo, 
but  we  were  too  early  to  obtain  ripe  fruit  of  this  species  or  of  the  prostrate  form  of  Juniperus 
Chinensis.  The  only  other  Juniper  we  saw  in  Japan,  Juniperus  rigida,  is  a  small  tree  some- 
times twenty  feet  high,  but  more  often  a  low  spreading  bush.  It  is  common  in  the  barrens 
near  Gifu,  and  appears  to  be  generally  distributed  at  low  elevations  in  central  Japan,  although 
it  grows  only  on  dry  sterile  gravelly  soil.  This  is  the  Juniper  which  is  most  commonly 
cultivated  by  the  Japanese,  and  which  is  not  infrequently  an  inhabitant  of  temple  gardens. 
Its  long  slender  rigid  leaves  and  small  fruit,  tipped  with  a  minute  niucro,  serve  to  distinguish 
it  from  Juniperus  conferta. 


THE   CONIFERS,    II. 

Or  the  true  Pines  of  Japan  two  species  are  valuable  timber-trees ;  these  are  Finns  densi- 
flora  and  Pinus  Thunbergii ;  both  bear  an  important  part  in  the  decoration  of  Japanese 
gardens,  and  one  at  least  has  had  its  influence  in  all  expressions  of  the  artistic  temperament 
of  the  people.  All  the  Pine-woods  of  Japan,  except  those  found  on  the  upper  slopes  of  some 
of  the  high  mountains  of  central  Hondo,  have  evidently  been  planted.  Such  planted  woods 
are  often  seen  covering  sandy  plains  near  the  coast,  and  the  principal  highways  of  the  empire 
are  shaded  by  avenues  of  these  Pines,  except  where  Cryptomerias  replace  them  when  moun- 
tains are  crossed.  Of  the  two  species  the  Black  Pine,  Pinus  Thunbergii,  appears  to  be  the 
most  commonly  cultivated,  and  to  grow  to  the  larger  size.  Of  its  distribution  and  appearance 
when  growing  naturally  I  was  not  able  to  get  an  idea,  as  all  the  plants  I  saw  had  evidently 
been  planted  by  man.  It  is  of  this  species  that  the  plantations  of  the  coast  are  mostly  formed, 
although  the  two  species  are  generally  found  mixed  together  in  all  plantations  ;  and  it  is  this 
species  which  is  usually  selected  by  the  Japanese  gardener  when  he  wants  to  make  the 
branches  of  a  Pine-tree  cover  an  arbor  or  hang  suspended  over  the  sides  of  a  moated  wall, 
and  which  is  found  in  every  garden  and  is  most  revered  by  the  Japanese.  Pinus  Thun- 
bergii is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  of  Pines,  with  a  broad  head  of  stout  contorted  some- 
what pendulous  branches,  often  growing  to  the  height  of  eighty  feet,  and  producing  trunks 
three  feet  through.  Its  dark  deeply  furrowed  bark,  darker  colored  and  thicker  leaves  and 
white  buds  serve  to  distinguish  it  from  the  Red  Pine,  Pinus  densiflora,  which  is  a  tree  of 
high  altitudes,  and  which,  although  planted  in  large  plantations  and  by  the  sides  of  high- 
ways, does  not  appear  to  be  such  a  favorite  in  gardens  as  the  Black  Pine.  The  Red  Pine 
we  saw  growing  wild  high  up  on  Mount  Koma-ga-take,  in  central  Hondo,  and  on  the  Nikko 
Mountains,  where,  at  about  3,000  feet  above  the  sea-level,  it  is  not  rare.  It  is  a  more 
slender  tree  than  the  Black  Pine,  with  thinner  lighter  green  leaves.  The  bark  on  the  upper 
part  of  the  trunk  and  on  the  main  branches  is  light  red,  separating  in  thin  scales,  so  that 
a  forest  of  these  trees  presents  a  bright  and  cheerful  appearance.  Several  varieties  of  the 
two  species  recognized  by  Japanese  gardeners  are  described  by  Mayr,  who  also  found  what  he 
thought  was  a  hybrid  between  them.1  The  wood  of  the  two  species  is  very  similar,  and, 
apparently,  is  not  distinguished  in  Japanese  lumber-yards.  It  is  coarse-grained,  resinous,  and 
moderately  strong,  and  is  used  in  great  quantities  in  all  sorts  of  coarse  construction,  and  as 
fuel,  the  rapid  growth  of  the  trees  on  soil  too  poor  to  produce  more  valuable  crops  to 
advantage  rendering  it  exceedingly  cheap.  These  two  Pines  have  long  inhabited  our  gardens, 
where  they  are  hardy  and  grow  with  great  rapidity,  some  of  the  oldest  plants  of  the  Red  Pine 
here  already  beginning  to  show  the  picturesque  habit  which  in  their  native  country  constitutes 
the  charm  of  these  trees. 

1  Die  Abietineen  des  Japanischen  Reiches,  83,  t.  7,  f.  2,  3,  4. 


80  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

The  other  Pines  of  Japan  belong  to  the  group  in  which  the  species  produce  their  leaves  in 
clusters  of  fives.  The  largest  and  the  most  widely  distributed  is  Pinus  parviflora,  a  beautiful 
small  tree  of  high  mountain  forests,  through  which,  at  elevations  over  5,000  feet  above 
the  sea-level,  it  is  found  scattered,  either  singly  or  in  small  groves,  sometimes  growino-  to 
a  height  of  sixty  or  seventy  feet,  although  it  is  usually  much  smaller.  In  those  parts  of 
Japan  which  we  visited,  it  was  most  common  and  grew  to  the  largest  size  on  the  slopes  of 
Mount  Hakkoda,  in  northern  Hondo,  where  its  dark  pyramidal  heads  of  slender  spreading 
branches,  rising  above  the  forests  of  Oaks  and  Beeches,  break  the  sky-line,  just  as  its  relative, 
our  eastern  White  Pine,  raises  its  nobler  head  high  above  the  Oak  forests  of  New  England. 
The  wood  of  Pinus  parviflora  is  soft,  straight-grained,  light-colored,  and  of  considerable  value, 
but  so  difficult  to  obtain  that  it  is  little  known  or  used  by  the  Japanese.  This  beautiful  Pine 
flourishes  in  our  gardens,  where  it  appears  to  be  perfectly  at  home,  and  where  it  grows  rapidly 
and  every  year  covers  itself  with  cones. 

In  southern  Yezo,  a  second  species  of  the  same  group,  Pinus  pentaphylla,  has  been  distin- 
guished by  Mayr.  This  is  an  exceedingly  rare  tree,  found  in  a  few  isolated  situations,  and 
distinguished  from  Pinus  parviflora  by  its  longer  cones  and  stouter  leaves.  We  saw  only  a 
cultivated  tree  at  the  hot  springs  of  Kakumi,  near  the  shore  of  Volcano  Bay,  being  prevented 
by  bad  weather  from  reaching  a  small  grove  of  these  trees  growing  on  the  mountains  in  the 
neighborhood.  This  Pine  has  not  been  introduced  into  our  gardens,  where  it  may  be  expected 
to  flourish. 

The  fifth  Japanese  Pine  is  interesting  from  the  fact  that  it  is  the  only  Japanese  Conifer 
which  grows  naturally  in  North  America.  It  is  the  Pinus  pumila  of  Kegel,  a  species  so  similar 
to  the  Stone  Pine  of  Europe  that  it  has  been  considered  by  many  authors  a  variety  of  that 
tree.  We  saw  it  only  on  the  summit  of  Mount  Hakkoda,  where  it  forms,  at  6,000  feet  above 
the  sea-level,  impenetrable  thickets  a  few  feet  in  height  and  hundreds  of  acres  in  extent ; 
it  occurs  on  the  summits  of  some  of  the  high  mountains  of  Yezo,  ranges  north  through 
Saghalin  and  eastern  Manchuria  to  Kamtschatka,  and  by  the  Kurile  Islands  reaches  those  of 
the  Alaska  coast. 

Of  Spruces,  there  appear  to  be  four  species  in  Japan,  where,  except,  perhaps,  in  some 
parts  of  Yezo,  they  are  exceedingly  rare.  The  first,  Picea  polita,  we  saw  only  in  two  or  three 
individuals  in  the  Nikko  Mountains,  on  the  hills  below  Lake  Chuzenji.  The  trees  were  small, 
much  torn  and  stunted  by  the  wind,  and  of  such  a  miserable  appearance  that  it  was  difficult  to 
realize  that  the  young  trees  in  perfect  health  and  beauty  which  decorate  our  gardens  belonged 
to  the  same  species.  For  the  second  Spruce  of  the  mountain  forests  of  central  Hondo,  to 
which  it  appears  to  be  confined,  Mayr  proposes  the  name  of  Picea  bicolor,  this  specific  name 
having,  he  finds,  been  first  used  by  Maximowicz  for  this  tree.  This  is  the  beautiful  Spruce 
with  blue-green  leaves,  silvery  white  on  the  under  surface,  which  is  usually  cultivated  under 
the  name  of  Picea  Alcockiana,  and  which  is  easily  distinguished  in  the  spring  by  the  bright 
red  color  of  the  young  shoots. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  discuss  here  the  synonymy  of  the  Japanese  Firs  and  Spruces,  upon 
which  such  a  mass  of  names  have  been  heaped  in  almost  hopeless  confusion,  that  only  a 
critical  examination  of  all  the  specimens  which  have  been  studied  by  European  botanists  can 


1 


<J 

8 
s 


w 

C3 

2 


o 

S 

s 

w 

a 


THE  CONIFERS.  81 

make  it  possible  to  reach  any  useful  conclusions  on  the  subject,  and  I  shall  only  speak  of  the 
trees  as  I  saw  them  growing  in  the  forests  of  Japan.  Picea  bicolor,  of  which  we  saw  but 
three  or  four  specimens,  is  evidently  a  rare  and  local  tree,  found  only  at  high  elevations, 
scattered  through  the  Oak  and  Beech  forests,  and,  like  Picea  polita,  presenting  in  its  home  a 
wretched  and  forlorn  appearance.  The  leaves  are  nearly  equally  four-sided,  and  the  cones 
are  four  to  six  inches  long,  with  narrow  pointed  more  or  less  laciuiate  scales.  These  two 
species,  so  far  as  I  was  able  to  observe,  are  the  only  Spruces  which  grow  on  the  island  of 
Hondo,  the  other  species  finding  in  Yezo  their  most  southern  home.  These  are  Picea  Ajanen- 
sis,  a  tree  with  smaller  cones  than  the  last,  and  short  broad  flat  leaves,  dark  green  above 
and  pale  on  the  lower  surface.  This  is  the  common  Spruce  of  Yezo,  occurring  on  the  hills 
near  Sapporo,  which  is  the  only  place  where  I  saw  it,  in  isolated  individuals  scattered  through 
the  forests  of  deciduous  trees.  According  to  Mayr,  this  tree  forms  in  the  western  part  of 
the  island  considerable  forests  on  low  swampy  ground,  not  much  raised  above  the  level  of  the 
ocean.  This  appears  to  be  the  common  Spruce  of  Saghalin  and  of  the  Manchurian  coast. 

The  fourth  species,  Picea  Glenhi,  discovered  by  F.  Schmidt  in  Saghalin,  has  been  found 
in  a  few  situations  in  southern  Yezo.  This  tree,  which  is  still  to  be  introduced  into  our  gar- 
dens, we  did  not  see  growing.  In  many  characters  it  resembles  the  Siberian  Picea  obovata, 
and  in  the  herbarium  it  is  not  easy  to  find  characters  by  which  it  can  be  satisfactorily  sepa- 
rated from  that  species.  Like  the  species  of  the  White  Spruce  group  of  North  America,  which 
appear  to  pass  one  into  another  by  gradual  transitions,  the  Spruces  of  northeastern  Asia  are 
difficult  to  distinguish  with  the  material  found  in  herbaria,  and  it  will  only  be  possible  to  study 
them  satisfactorily  when  all  the  various  forms  have  been  planted  side  by  side  in  some  arbore- 
tum and  allowed  to  grow  to  maturity. 

Of  the  Hemlocks  found  in  Japan,  one  is  northern  and  the  other  southern ;  both  are  com- 
mon at  high  elevations,  and  one  at  least  forms  extensive  forests.  The  great  forest,  which 
covers  the  Nikko  Mountains  at  an  altitude  of  more  than  5,000  feet  above  the  ocean,  is 
composed  almost  entirely  of  the  northern  Hemlock,  Tsuga  diversifolia,  which  is  distin- 
guished by  its  bright  red  bark,  small  leaves,  and  cones.  This  Hemlock  forest,  which  is  the 
only  forest  in  Hondo  which  seems  to  have  been  left  practically  undisturbed  by  man,  is  the 
most  beautiful  which  we  saw  in  Japan.  The  trees  grow  to  a  great  size,  and  while  they  stand 
close  together  are  less  crowded  than  the  trees  in  an  American  Hemlock  forest,  under  which 
no  other  plants  can  grow,  and  light  enough  reaches  the  forest-floor  to  permit  the  growth  of 
Ferns,  Mosses,  and  many  flowering  under-shrubs  which  clothe  the  rocky  slopes  up  which  this 
forest  stretches.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  spots  which  we  saw  in  Japan  is  the  walk  cut 
through  this  forest  which  follows  along  the  shores  of  Lake  Yumoto,  and  I  am  fortunate  in 
being  able  to  reproduce  a  photograph  of  it  (Plate  xxv.),  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  Pro- 
fessor Mayr,  of  Munich,  who,  during  an  official  residence  of  several  years  in  Japan,  explored 
the  forests  of  all  parts  of  the  empire  more  thoroughly  than  any  other  foreigner.  We  found 
Tsuga  diversifolia  in  scattered  groups  on  the  rocky  cliffs  of  Mount  Hakkoda,  in  the  extreme 
north  of  Hondo,  the  most  northern  station  which  has  been  recorded  for  this  tree,  which  is  still 
to  be  introduced  into  our  gardens ;  but,  south  of  Nikko,  it  was  replaced  by  the  second  species, 
Tsuga  Tsuga,  which  we  saw  in  great  beauty  on  Koma-ga-take,  where,  however,  it  does  not 


82  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

form  a  continuous  forest,  but  is  scattered  in  groves  of  considerable  extent  among  deciduous 
trees  and  Pinus  densiflora.  It  is  this  southern  species,  Tsuga  Tsuga,  which  is  cultivated  in 
our  gardens,  where  it  appears  to  be  as  hardy  as  our  native  species,  which  it  surpasses  in  its 
more  graceful  habit,  and  in  its  broader  and  darker  colored  leaves. 

Of  the  Firs  of  Japan  we  saw  only  four  species,  and  one  of  these,  Abies  firma,  only  as  a 
cultivated  plant.  This  is  the  largest  and  the  most  beautiful  of  the  Japanese  Firs,  often  grow- 
ing in  cultivation  to  the  height  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet,  and  producing  clean  tall 
stems  four  or  six  feet  in  diameter.  Writers  on  Japanese  forests  speak  of  Abies  firma  as  com- 
mon south  of  latitude  40°,  north,  in  the  upper  belt  of  deciduous  trees,  but  we  never  saw  it 
except  in  parks  and  temple  gardens,  or  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  houses.  It  is  this 
species  which  is  chiefly  called  Momi  by  the  Japanese,  although  the  name  is  applied  generally 
to  all  Firs,  and  which,  in  Hondo,  supplies  the  fir  wood  of  commerce.  This  is  soft,  straight- 
grained,  and  easily  worked,  and  hardly  distinguishable  from  the  wood  of  the  European  Fir ;  it 
is  used  for  building  purposes  and  cheap  packing-cases,  but  is  not  greatly  valued.  This  species 
has  usually  proved  a  disappointment  as  an  ornamental  tree  in  this  country  and  in  Europe,  but 
it  is  certainly,  as  it  grows  in  Japan,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  all  Firs,  distinguished  by  the 
nobility  of  its  port  and  by  its  bright  green  and  very  lustrous  long  rigid  leaves,  which  are 
sometimes  sharply  pointed,  and  sometimes  divided  at  the  apex.  It  probably  needs  a  warmer 
and  moister  climate  than  that  of  the  northern  United  States  in  which  to  develop  all  its  beau- 
ties ;  farther  south  it  should,  however,  make  a  fine  tree. 

The  Fir  of  which  we  saw  the  most  in  Japan  is  the  Abies  homolepis  of  Siebold  and  Zucca- 
rini.  This  is  the  plant  which  is  now  often  cultivated  in  our  gardens  under  the  name  of  Abies 
brachyphylla,  a  more  recent  name.  It  is  the  common  Fir  of  central  Japan,  and  abounds  on 
the  Nikko  Mountains  between  4,000  and  5,000  feet  elevation  above  the  sea,  although  it  does 
not  form  continuous  forests,  but  is  scattered  singly,  or  in  small  groups,  through  the  Birch 
and  Oak  woods  which  cover  the  ground  just  below  the  Hemlock  belt.  It  is  a  massive 
although  not  a  very  tall  tree,  apparently  never  growing  to  a  greater  height  than  eighty  or 
ninety  feet ;  in  old  age  it  is  easily  distinguished  from  all  other  Firs  by  its  broad  round  head, 
the  branches  near  the  tops  of  the  trees  growing  longer  than  those  lower  down  on  the  stems. 
This  peculiarity  is  seen  even  on  young  plants  in  our  gardens,  on  which  the  lower  branches, 
which  soon  stop  growing,  are  shaded  by  the  longer  ones  produced  above  them.  The  pale 
bark,  the  long  crowded  leaves,  dark  green  above  and  silvery  white  below,  and  the  large  purple 
cones  make  this  a  handsome  tree.  In  cultivation  here  it  is  very  hardy,  and  grows  with  remark- 
able rapidity.  The  inaccessibility  of  the  places  where  Abies  homolepis  grows  in  Japan  pre- 
cludes the  general  use  of  the  wood,  which  we  found  employed  in  the  little  alpine  village  of 
Yumoto  for  building  material. 

The  chief  object  of  our  visit  to  Mount  Hakkoda,  in  northern  Hondo,  was  to  find  Abies 
Mariesii,  which  the  botanical  collector,  whose  name  this  tree  bears,  discovered  there  several 
years  before.  It  is  common  on  this  mountain  at  about  5,000  feet  above  the  sea-level,  scat- 
tered among  deciduous  trees,  and,  so  far  as  we  observed,  it  is  the  only  Fir  of  northern  Hondo. 
As  we  saw  it,  Abies  Mariesii  forms  a  compact  pyramid  about  forty  or  fifty  feet  high,  with 
crowded  branches  covered  with  short  dark  foliage,  pale  below,  and  many  large  dark  purple 


THE  LAECH  FAMILY.  83 

cones.  It  is  a  handsome  but  in  no  wise  a  striking  or  remarkable  tree,  which  in  all  probabil- 
ity will  flourish  in  severe  climates.  It  is  only  known  on  the  high  mountains  of  northern 
Hondo  and  in  one  place  on  the  shores  of  southern  Yezo,  where  it  was  discovered  during  the 
summer  of  1892  by  Mr.  Tokubuchi. 

On  the  hills  of  central  Yezo,  Abies  Sachalinensis  is  not  rare,  and  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  island  and  on  Saghalin  this  fine  tree  is  said  to  form  extensive  forests.  It  is  a  tall  pyram- 
idal tree  with  pale  bark,  long  slender  dark  green  leaves,  and  white  buds  which  make  it  pos- 
sible to  distinguish  it  readily  from  the  other  Japanese  Firs.  A  curious  form  has  been  noticed 
by  Professor  Miyabe,  growing  near  Sapporo,  with  red  bark,  dark  red  wood,  and  red  cone 
bracts ;  it  grows  with  the  common  form  and  is  probably  merely  a  seminal  variety,  although 
Professor  Miyabe  considers  it  specifically  distinct  and  proposes  to  call  it  Abies  Akatodo.  We 
were  fortunate  in  securing  a  supply  of  seeds  of  the  white  and  of  the  red  barked  varieties,  and 
the  seedlings,  perhaps,  will  show  whether  they  should  be  considered  distinct.  Abies  Sachali- 
nensis produces  wood  of  fair  quality,  which  is  used  in  Sapporo  in  building  and  for  packing- 
cases  ;  it  has  only  a  local  consumption.  The  young  plants  of  Abies  Sachalinensis  in  our 
gardens  are  perfectly  hardy  and  grow  more  rapidly  than  those  of  any  other  species  of  Fir- 
tree. 

Abies  Veitchii,  discovered  many  years  ago  on  the  slopes  of  Mount  Fuji-san,  we  looked  for 
everywhere,  and  although  it  is  said  to  grow  among  the  Nikko  Mountains,  we  saw  nothing  of 
it  there  or  elsewhere.  From  Abies  homolepis,  which  this  species  most  resembles,  it  may  be 
distinguished  by  its  shorter  and  more  crowded  leaves,  its  more  slender  pubescent  shoots  and 
smaller  cones.  This  tree  is  an  old  inhabitant  of  our  gardens,  having  been  sent  many  years 
ago  by  Mr.  Thomas  Hogg  to  the  Flushing  Nurseries,  where  it  was  cultivated  under  the  unpub- 
lished name  of  Abies  Japonica  long  before  it  was  known  in  Europe.  Of  Dr.  Mayr's  Abies 
umbellata,  a  species  probably  too  near  Abies  homolepis,  we  saw  nothing. 

The  forests  of  Hondo  contain  at  least  one  Larch,  Larix  leptolepis.  It  is  a  fine  tree,  sev- 
enty or  eighty  feet  tall,  with  pale  green  foliage  and  massive  trunks  covered  with  reddish 
bark,  and  in  habit  not  unlike  the  European  species.  The  Japanese  Larch  is  not  rare  at 
elevations  of  from  5,000  to  6,000  feet  in  the  central  part  of  the  island,  although  we  saw  it 
nowhere  growing  in  continuous  forests,  but  always  scattered  in  small  groves,  mixed  with  other 
deciduous  trees.  Larix  leptolepis  was  introduced  into  American  gardens  many  years  ago ;  it 
grows  in  this  country  with  great  rapidity,  and  the  oldest  trees  here  have  for  many  years 
produced  abundant  crops  of  seeds.  The  wood,  like  that  of  other  Larch-trees,  is  hard,  heavy, 
and  strong.  The  trees,  however,  are  so  difficult  to  reach  that  it  is  little  used  in  Japan,  except 
for  the  timbers  of  mountain  mines. 

Maximowicz  describes  a  variety  of  this  species,  var.  Murrayana  (Larix  Japonica,  Murray), 
which  grows  as  a  low  shrub  near  the  timber-line  of  Fuji-san  ;  and  my  companion,  Mr.  Cod- 
man,  made  a  special  trip  late  in  the  autumn  for  the  purpose  of  securing  specimens  and  seeds 
of  this  plant.  In  this  he  was  successful,  but  his  specimens  gathered  from  plants  but  a 
few  feet  high,  growing  at  an  elevation  of  8,500  feet  above  the  sea-level,  differ  from  those 
of  the  common  arborescent  form  only  in  the  smaller  size  of  the  cones  and  in  the  shorter 
leaves. 


84  FOREST  FLORA    OF  JAPAN. 

A  variety  of  Larix  Dahurica,  a  species  widely  distributed  through  Siberia,  northern  China, 
Manchuria,  Kamtschatka,  and  Saghalin,  reaches  the  extreme  northern  part  of  Yezo  and  the 
Kurile  Islands.  This  form  has  been  called  var.  Japonica  by  Maximowicz,  and  by  Mayr  Larix 
Kurilensis.  We  were  not  fortunate  enough  to  see  this  tree  in  its  native  forests,  but  some  idea 
of  its  appearance  as  it  grows  in  the  island  of  Iturup  can  be  obtained  from  our  illustration 
(Plate  xxvi.),  which  is  produced  from  a  photograph  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  Mayr,  who 
visited  the  Kurile  Islands  during  his  residence  in  Japan. 

The  other  arborescent  plants  of  Japan,  Cycas  revoluta,  a  favorite  garden-plant,  especially  in 
the  south,  where  it  often  grows  to  a  great  size,  and  Trachycarpus  (Chamserops)  excelsa,  natu- 
ralized in  some  parts  of  the  south,  appear  to  have  been  introduced  from  the  Loochoo  or  other 
southern  islands,  or  from  Formosa  or  southern  China. 


PLATK   XXVI. 


LARIX  DAHURICA,  VAK.  JAPONICA,  MAXM. 


THE   ECONOMIC   ASPECTS   OF   THE   JAPANESE   FORESTS. 

IN  few  other  countries  are  the  forests  of  greater  importance  to  the  prosperity  of  the  nation 
than  they  are  in  Japan.  The  formation  of  the  islands,  with  their  high  central  mountain 
ranges  and  short  precipitous  swift  flowing  rivers,  make  floods  particularly  prevalent  and 
dangerous,  and  the  necessity  of  preserving  the  forest-covering  of  the  upper  mountain-slopes 
proportionately  great ;  and  no  other  race,  with  the  single  exception,  perhaps,  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  is  such  a  consumer  of  forest  products  as  the  Japanese,  all  their  houses  and 
most  of  their  articles  of  domestic  use  being  entirely  made  of  wood.  The  traveler,  therefore, 
watches  with  some  interest,  as  bearing  upon  the  future  of  Japan,  the  condition  and  prospects 
of  her  forests. 

According  to  the  most  reliable  statistics  available,  those  compiled  by  Rein,  and  based  in  part, 
at  least,  upon  the  report  of  the  Japanese  Forestry  Exhibit  at  Edinburgh  in  1884,  thirty-seven 
per  cent,  of  the  three  southern  islands  —  that  is,  of  the  whole  empire,  with  the  exception  of  the 
practically  unsettled  island  of  Yezo  —  is  desert  or  unproductive  land.  Twenty-three  per  cent, 
is  occupied  by  the  mountain  forests,  eighteen  per  cent,  by  the  cultivated  forests,  while  rather 
less  than  twenty  per  cent,  is  devoted  to  agriculture,  the  remainder  being  taken  up  by  build- 
ings, roads,  etc.  The  cultivated  forests,  in  which  it  is  presumed  that  the  areas  surrounding 
the  temples  are  included,  which,  although  covered  with  splendid  groves  of  trees,  are  unpro- 
ductive except  so  far  as  they  are  made  to  furnish  material  for  repairing  or  rebuilding  the 
temples,  are  well  stocked  with  coniferous  trees,  —  Retinosporas,  Cryptomerias,  and  Pines,  — 
and  furnish  all  the  building  material  used  in  the  empire.  It  is  said  that  the  Japanese  have 
been  making  these  plantations  for  twelve  hundred  years ;  and  if  this  is  true,  they  began  plant- 
ing trees  for  timber  before  any  other  people  with  whose  agriculture  we  are  acquainted. 
Scientific  methods  might,  perhaps,  make  these  plantations,  which  are  mostly  the  property  of 
individuals,  rather  more  productive,  but  any  great  increase  of  forest  supplies  can  only  follow 
the  better  management  of  the  mountain  forests  or  the  replanting  of  desert  lands.  The  moun- 
tain forests,  which  are  the  property  of  the  state,  may  be  roughly  divided  into  two  belts,  the 
upper  composed  principally  of  Hemlocks,  and  extending  from  about  5,000  feet  above  the 
sea-level  to  the  timber-line,  the  lower  stretching  between  2,000  and  5,000  feet  elevation,  and 
composed  of  Beeches,  Oaks,  Maples,  Birches,  Pines,  and  a  few  Firs  and  Spruces.  The  upper 
belt,  owing  to  its  inaccessibility  and  the  bad  condition  of  the  mountain  roads,  is  practically 
untouched,  except  where  mining  operations  have  created  a  local  demand  for  timber.  Scien- 
tific management  and  good  roads  would  make  this  upper  coniferous  forest  yield  quantities  of 
valuable  material.  The  deciduous  belt  below  it,  which  ought  to  be  the  most  productive  part 
of  the  Japanese  forest,  is,  wherever  we  entered  it,  in  a  deplorable  condition,  and  although 
Japan  has  supplied  herself  with  a  Forest  Department,  we  saw  no  evidence  that  it  is  seriously 
occupying  itself  with  the  care  of  this  part  of  the  public  domain.  There  appear  to  be  no  rules 


86  FOREST  FLORA   OF  JAPAN. 

about  cutting  the  trees  in  this  belt,  which  is  invaded  by  bands  of  wood-choppers,  who  cut 
without  system  any  trees  that  appear  large  enough  to  answer  their  purpose ;  and  the  only 
mature  trees  it  contains  are  those  growing  in  inaccessible  positions,  or  of  sorts  which  are  not 
considered  valuable.  No  attention  is  paid  to  reproducing  the  valuable  species,  with  the  result, 
of  course,  that  such  species,  being  the  most  cut,  have  become  the  least  common.  Reproduction 
is  chiefly  by  coppice-growth  which  is  cut  at  irregular  intervals  ;  and  the  Japanese  deciduous 
forests  display  all  the  bad  effects  of  an  indiscriminate  and  long-continued  system  of  jardinage. 
The  application  of  the  block  system  would  in  time,  of  course,  increase  the  output  of  these 
forests  and  supply  large  quantities  of  valuable  timber  where  only  fuel  or  small  sticks  are  now 
produced. 

Still  better  results  might  be  expected  from  covering  some  parts  of  the  desert  land  with 
forests.  These  so-called  deserts  consist  of  sandy  seashore  planes  and  dunes,  often  capable  of 
producing  a  moderate  growth  of  Pine ;  the  alpine  summits  of  mountains,  their  lava-covered 
slopes,  bare  mountain-ridges  from  which  the  forests  have  been  artificially  removed,  and  the 
hara.  This  is  the  rolling  foothill  region  about  the  base  of  the  high  mountains  or  below  the 
mountain  forest-belt,  and  must  form  a  very  large  part  of  the  thirty-seven  per  cent,  of  desert ; 
it  is  covered  with  a  mat  of  coarse  bunch-grass  (Eulalia)  and  with  many  other  perennial  plants. 
Here  the  Japanese  cut  the  fodder  for  their  animals  and  cure  their  hay  for  winter  use.  Every 
spring  the  whole  hara  is  burnt  over  to  destroy  the  dried  vegetation  of  the  previous  year  and 
start  a  new  growth  of  grass.  That  fires  have  made  these  foothills  treeless  by  the  destruction 
of  all  seedling  trees  as  fast  as  they  appear  seems  to  be  shown  in  the  fact  that  where  ravines 
or  other  depressions  occur  among  the  hills,  which  the  fire  cannot  easily  reach,  they  are  covered 
with  a  vigorous  growth  of  trees  of  many  species.  It  is  not  easy  to  find  in  existing  conditions 
of  Japanese  life  any  cause  for  the  original  destruction  of  the  foothill  forests,  but  once 
destroyed  it  is  easy  to  see  why  they  have  not  been  able  to  grow  again.  Much  of  the  hara 
region  is  suited  in  soil  and  elevation  to  produce  Retinosporas  and  Cryptonierias,  the  most  val- 
uable of  the  Japanese  timber-trees,  and  its  conversion  from  unproductive  prairie  —  for  not 
one  per  cent,  of  the  hara  is  used  for  hay  —  into  forest  would  add  enormously  to  the  wood 
product  of  the  empire. 

Japan  is  well  situated  geographically  to  supply  a  vast  number  of  people  living  in  foreign 
countries  with  timber  ;  and  its  soil  and  climate  are  preeminently  suited  to  produce  forests.  It 
could  easily  send,  if  it  had  it  to  spare,  coniferous  timber  to  China,  where  the  demand  for 
building  material  is  practically  inexhaustible,  to  the  Straits  Settlements  and  Australia ;  and 
oak-staves  for  wine  casks  to  California,  which  is  now  supplied  from  the  fast  vanishing  forests 
of  the  Mississippi  valley. 

From  the  changed  conditions  which  have  followed  the  hasty  and  often  ill-considered  intro- 
duction of  European  methods  into  Japan,  grave  economic  questions  are  rising.  The  cessation 
of  civil  wars  which  followed  the  abolition  of  the  Shogunate  and  the  deposition  of  the  Daimyos, 
and  the  introduction  of  western  medical  practices,  have  caused  a  great  increase  of  population  in 
the  last  twenty  years,  and  the  question  of  food  supply  is  becoming  a  vital  one  to  Japan.  The 
limit  to  the  production  of  rice,  the  one  great  staple,  has  been  practically  reached,  and  all 
efforts  to  induce  the  superfluous  population  of  the  southern  islands  to  colonize  Yezo  have 


THE  ECONOMIC  ASPECTS   OF   THE  JAPANESE  FORESTS.        87 

utterly  failed,  in  spite  of  the  great  sums  of  money  spent  by  the  Imperial  government  during 
the  last  twenty-five  years  to  encourage  its  settlement.  A  few  thousand  coolies  leave  home 
annually  to  work  in  other  countries,  but  this  movement  is  comparatively  small,  and  many  of 
these  emigrants  return  to  their  homes  at  the  end  of  a  few  years.  Starvation  threatens  Japan 
unless  it  can  import  food  from  other  countries,  and  this  it  will  only  be  able  to  do  by  increas- 
ing its  exports.  There  is  still  room  to  increase  the  product  of  tea  if  the  demand  in  this 
country  for  low  grades  of  Japanese  tea  justifies  it,  but  the  ground  fit  to  grow  Mulberry-trees 
advantageously  is  practically  all  taken  up,  and  the  silk  product  cannot  therefore  be  very  mate- 
rially increased.  Curios,  of  course,  can  be  made  in  unlimited  quantities,  but  the  demand  for 
them  in  the  United  States  and  Europe  is  more  likely  to  decrease  than  to  increase ;  and  wood  is 
really  the  only  product  upon  which  Japan  can  depend  to  greatly  increase  the  volume  of  her 
exports.  The  care  of  her  existing  forests  and  the  planting  of  her  waste  lands  would  give 
employment  to  thousands  of  coolies,  and  in  time  would  add  important  sums  to  the  national 
exchequer. 

The  forests  of  Yezo  are  still  intact,  except  where  here  and  there  a  struggling  settlement  has 
broken  into  the  forest-blanket  which  covers  this  noble  island.  Here  are  great  supplies  of  oak 
and  ash  of  the  best  quality,  of  cercidiphyllum,  walnut,  fir,  acanthopanax,  cherry  and  birch 
—  a  storehouse  of  forest  wealth,  which,  if  properly  managed,  could  be  drawn  upon  for  all 
time,  and  which,  if  the  timber  is  not  needed  in  Japan,  may  become,  when  the  trans-Asiatic 
railroad  is  finished,  an  important  factor  in  the  development  of  southern  Siberia  and  some  of 
the  treeless  countries  of  central  Asia. 


INDEX. 


Names  of  admitted  Genera  and  Species  and  other  Proper  Names  in  romau  type  ;   of  Synonyms  in  italics. 


Abies  Alatodo,  83. 

Abies  brachyphylla,  82. 

Abies,  distribution  of,  in  Japan,  6. 

Abies  flrma,  82. 

Abies  firma  in  American  gardens,  82. 

Abies  firma,  wood  of,  82. 

Abies  homolepis,  82. 

Abies  bomolepis,  distribution  of,  82. 

Abies  Japonica,  83. 

Abies  Mariesii,  10,  82. 

Abies  Saclialinensis,  83. 

Abies  Saclialinensis,  red  wooded  vari- 
ety of,  83. 

Abies  umbellata,  83. 

Abies  Veitchii,  83. 

Acantbopanax,  44. 

Acantbopanax  aculeatum,  44. 

Acauthopanax  innovans,  44. 

Acauthopaiiax  ricinifolium,  44,  45. 

Acanthopauax  ricinifolium,  wood  of, 
46. 

Acanthopanax  sciadophylloides,  44. 

Acautbopanax  sessiliflorum,  44. 

Acanthopanax  tricbodon,  44. 

Acer  argutuui,  31. 

Acer  capillipes,  30. 

Acer  carpinifoliuui,  30. 

Acer  cissifolium  in  American  gardens, 
31. 

Acer  cratsegifolium,  31. 

Acer  diabolicum,  31. 

Acer  distylum,  31. 

Acer  Japonicura,  30. 

Acer  Japonicum,  foliage  of,  in  autumn, 
30. 

Acer  Ufaximowiczianum,  32. 

Acer  Miyabei,  29. 

Acer  Nikoense,  31. 

Acer  Nikoense  in  European  gardens, 
32. 

Acer  palmatum,  30. 

Acer  paluiatum,  varieties  of,  in  Jap- 
anese gardens,  30. 

Acer  parvifoliuin,  31. 

Acer  pictum,  28. 

Acer  purpurascens,  31. 

Acer  pycnanthum,  31. 

Acer  rufinerve,  31. 

Acer  Sieboldianum,  31. 

Acer  spicatum,  30. 

Acer  Tataricum,  var.  Ginuala,  30. 

Acer  Tataricum,  var.  Ginnala,  in 
American  gardens,  30. 


Acer  trifidum,  1. 

Acer  Tschonoskii,  31. 

Actiuidia  arguta,  7,  19. 

Actinidia  arguta,  fruit  of,  19. 

Actinidia  in  Japan,  12. 

Actinidia  Kolomikta,  19. 

Actinidia  polygama,  19. 

Actinidia  polygama,  peculiarity  of  tbe 
leaves  of,  19. 

vEsculus  in  North  America,  28. 

^Eseulus  turbinata,  28. 

Albizzia  Julibrissin,  34. 

Alder,  the  black,  25. 

Alders,  arborescent,  abundance  of,  in 
Japan,  7. 

Alders  in  Japan,  63. 

Aleurites  cordata,  56. 

Alnus  firma,  63 

Alnus  jirma,  63. 

Alnus  firma,  var.  multinervis,  63. 

Alnus  incana,  63. 

Alnus  incana,  var.  glauca,  63. 

Alnus  incana,  var.  hirsuta,  63. 

Alnus  Japonica,  63. 

Aluus  maritima,  63. 

Alnus  viridis,  var.  Sibirica,  63. 

American  forests,  composition  of,  com- 
pared with  Japanese,  1. 

Andromeda  Japonica,  49. 

Andromeda  nana,  10. 

Aphananthe  aspera,  59. 

Aralia  Chinensis,  44. 

Aralia  cordata,  44. 

Aralia  family  in  Japan,  43. 

Aralia  family  in  eastern  America,  43. 

Aralia  family  in  North  America,  43. 

Aralia  Maximoieiczii,  45. 

Aralia  quinquefolia,  43. 

Aralia  racumosa,  44. 

Aralia  spinosa,  var.  elata,  44. 

Arboixjcent  genera,  common  to  the 
forests  of  eastern  North  America 
and  Japan,  6. 

Arbor  vitre,  the  Japanese,  72. 

Aria  in  Japan,  39. 

Aronia  alnifolia,  40. 

Ash,  the  Mountain,  78. 

Aspen,  the,  71. 

Azalea  calendulacea,  49. 

Azalea  mollin,  49. 

Azaleas  in  Japan,  49. 

Balsam  Poplar,  the,  in  Japan,  71. 


Bamboos,  prevalence  of,  in  Japanese 

forests,  7. 

Beech,  the,  in  Japan,  70. 
Beech-wood  in  Japan,  70. 
Benthamia,  47. 
Berberis  Japonica,  2. 
Bercbemia  racemosa,  26. 
Betula  alba,  61. 
Betula  alba,  var.  Tauschii,  62. 
Betula  alba,  var.  verrucosa,  62. 
Betula  Bhojpattra,  63. 
Betula  corylifolia,  63. 
Betula  Ermani,  7,  62. 
Betula  Maximowicziana,  62. 
Betula  serra,  63. 
Betula  ulmifolia,  63. 
Birches,  abundance  of,  in  Japan,  7. 
Birch-trees,  black-barked,  62. 
Birch-trees  in  Japan,  61. 
Black  Alder,  25. 
Black  Pine,  79. 
Bronssonetias  in  Japan,  59. 
Bunch-berry,  the,  47. 
Biirgeria  ?  salicifolia,  11. 

Camellia  Japonica,  17. 

Camellia  Japonica,  oil  of,  17. 

Camellia  Japouica,  wood  of,  17. 

Camellia  Sasanqua,  17. 

Camellia  theifera,  17. 

Camphor-tree,  the,  54. 

Camphor-tree  at  Atami,  54. 

Carpinus  Carpimis,  64. 

Carpinns  Carpiuus  in  American  gar- 
dens, 65. 

Carpinus  cordata,  65. 

Carpinus  erosa,  64. 

Carpinus  Japonica,  64. 

Carpinus  laxiflora,  64. 

Carpinus  Tschonoskii,  64. 

Carpinus  Yedoensis,  64. 

Carpinus,  distribution  of,  64. 

Catalpa  ovata,  2. 

Cedrela  Sineusis,  1. 

Celtis  Sinensis,  59. 

Cepbalotaxus  drnpacea,  75. 

Cercidiphyllum  Japonicum,  13. 

Cercidiphyllum  from  western  China, 
4. 

Cercidiphyllum,  its  introduction  into 
American  gardens,  15. 

Cercidiphyllum,  wood  of,  15. 

Cercis  Chinensis,  2. 


90 


INDEX. 


Celastrus  articulatus,  26. 

Celastrus  articulatus,  decorative  uses 
of,  in  Japan,  26. 

Celastrus  flagellaris,  26. 

Chaniaecyparis  obtusa,  73. 

Chamsecyparis  obtusa,  plantations  of, 
in  Japan,  73. 

Chamsecyparis  obtusa,  uses  of  the  wood 
and  bark  of,  in  Japan,  73. 

Chamsecyparis  obtusa  in  the  eastern 
United  States,  73. 

Chamaecyparis  pisifera,  73. 

Chamsecyparis  pisifera  in  the  eastern 
United  States,  73. 

Chamsecyparis  pisifera,  wood  of,  73. 

Chainserops  excelsa,  3,  84. 

Cherry,  the  Japanese,  36. 

Cherry-tree  cultivated  in  Japan,  36. 

Cherry-tree,  Pendulous-branched,  37. 

Cherry-tree,  varieties  cultivated  in  Ja- 
pan, 36. 

Chestnut-tree,  the,  in  Japan,  69. 

Chestnuts  as  food  in  Japan,  70. 

Chinese  rice-paper,  43. 

Chinese  shrubs  cultivated  in  Japan,  2. 

Chinese  trees  cultivated  in  Japan,  1. 

Chionanthus,  52. 

Chionanthus  retusa,  2. 

Cinnamonium  Camphora,  54. 

Cinnamoraum  pedunculatum,  54. 

Citrus  Japonica,  2. 

Clematis  patens,  2. 

Clerodeudron  trichotomum,  53. 

Clclhra  barbinervis,  50. 

Clethra  canescens,  50. 

Cleyera  ochnacea,  17. 

Climbing  plants  in  Japanese  forests,  7. 

Climbing  Hydrangeas  in  Japan,  7. 

Composition  of  Japanese  and  eastern 
American  forests  compared,  1. 

Conifers  in  Japan,  72. 

Conifers  planted  in  Japan,  72. 

Corean  shrubs  cultivated  in  Japan,  2. 

Corean  trees  cultivated  in  Japan,  1. 

Cornus  alba,  47. 

Cornus  brachypoda,  48. 

Cornus  Canadensis,  7,  47. 

Cornus  Kousa,  47. 

Cornus  Kousa  in  American  gardens,  47. 

Cornus  macrophylla,  47,  48. 

Cornus  officinalis,  1,  48. 

Cornus  officinalis  cultivated  in  Japan, 
48. 

Cornus  Suecica,  47. 

Cornus  in  North  America,  47. 

Cratcegus  alnifolia,  40. 

CratsBgus  chlorosaca,  41. 

Crataegus  cuneata,  1. 

Crataegus  in  eastern  North  America,  41. 

Cryptomeria  Japonica,  74. 

Cryptonieria  Japonica,  plantations  of, 
in  Japan,  74. 

Cryptonieria  Japonica,  groves  and  ave- 
nues of,  at  Nikko,  74. 

Cryptomerias  at  Nikko,  age  of,  75. 

Cryptomeria  Japonica,  uses  of  the  wood 
and  bark  of,  in  Japan,  74. 


Cupuliferse  in  Japan,  61. 
Cycas  revoluta,  3,  84. 

Daphne  Genkwa,  2. 
Daphniphyllum  glaucesens,  56. 
Daphniphylluiu  humile,  10,  56. 
Daphniphyllum  macropodum,  56. 
Dendropanax  Japouicum,  43. 
Desert  lands,  areas  of,  in  Japan,  85. 
Desert  lands,  nature  of,  in  Japan,  86. 
Diervilla  Japonica,  48. 
Dimorphanthus  Manchuricus,  44. 
Diospyros  Kaki,  2,  50. 
Diospyros  Lotus,  2,  51. 
Disanthus  cercidifolia,  42. 
Disligocarpus,  64. 
Distigocarpux  Carpinus,  64. 
Distylium  racemosuin,  42. 

Economic  aspects  of  Japanese  forests, 
85. 

Edgeworthia  papyrifera,  2. 

Ehretia  acumiiiata,  53. 

Eheagnus  lougipes,  56. 

Elseagnns  pungens,  56. 

Ekeagnns  umbellata,  56. 

Elseagnus  umbellata  in  American  gar- 
dens, 56. 

Elaeocarpus  in  Japan,  21. 

Elaeocarpus  photinisefolia,  21. 

Eleutherococcus  in  Japan,  43. 

Elliottia  paniculata,  7. 

Elm-bark  cloth,  made  in  Yezo,  57. 

Elm-family  in  Japan,  57. 

English  walnuts,  60. 

Enkianthus  campanulatns,  49. 

Enkianthus  Japonicus,  2. 

Epigaea  Asiatica,  10. 

Ericacese  in  Japan,  49. 

Eriobotrya  Japonica,  1. 

Euphorbiaceae  in  Japan,  56. 

Euptelea  polyandra,  15. 

Eurya  Japonica,  17. 

Evergreen  shrubs,  prevalence  of,  in  Ja- 
pan, 6. 

Evodia  rutiecarpa,  21. 

Evodia  rutieearpa,  economic  uses  of,  21. 

Evonymus  alatns,  26. 

Evonymus  alatus  in  American  and  Jap- 
anese gardens,  26. 

Evouymus  alatus,  var.  subtriflora,  26. 

Evonymus  Europaeus,  var.  Hamiltonia- 
nus,  26. 

Evonymus  Europaeus,  var.  Hamiltoni- 
anus  in  American  gardens,  26. 

Evonymus  in  Japan,  25. 

Evonymus  Japonicus,  25. 

Evouymus  macropterus,  26. 

Evonymus  Nipponicus,  26. 

Evonymus  oxyphyllus,  26. 

Evonymus  radicams,  25. 

Evonymus,  the  climbing,  7. 

Exccecaria  Japonica,  57. 

Fagus  Sieboldii,  70. 
Fagus  sylvatica,  70. 
Fagus  sylvatica,  var.  Sieboldii,  70. 


Fatsia  horrida,  43. 

Fatsia  Japonica,  43. 

Fatsia  papyrifera,  43. 

Features  of  vegetation  in  Japan  and 
eastern  North  America  compared,  4. 

Fig-trees  in  Japan,  59. 

Firs  in  Japan,  82. 

Forestiera,  52. 

Forest-region,  the  Atlantic,  extent  of,  2. 

Forest-region,  the  Japanese-Manchuri- 
aii,  2. 

Forests,  Japanese,  character  and  divi- 
sions of,  85. 

Forests,  Japanese,  composition  of,  com- 
pared with  eastern  American,  1. 

Forests,  Japanese,  economic  aspects  of, 
85. 

Forests,  Japanese,  methods  of  reproduc- 
tion, 86. 

Forests  of  Yezo,  87. 

Forest,  the  Atlantic,  census  of,  2. 

Forest,  the  Hemlock,  of  Lake  Yumoto,  7. 

Forest,  the  Japanese-Mauchurian,  cen- 
sus of,  2. 

Forest  undergrowth,  character  of,  in 
Japan,  7. 

Forest  undergrowth,  character  of,  in 
North  America,  7. 

Forsythia  suspensa,  2. 

Fraxinus  in  eastern  America,  52. 

Fraxinus  longicuspis,  52. 

Fraxinus  Manchurica,  52. 

Fraxinus  Manchurica  in  American  gar- 
dens, 52. 

Fraxinus  pubinervis,  52. 

Gaultheria  pyroloides,  10. 

Genera,  arborescent,  common  to  the 
forests  of  eastern  North  America  and 
Japan,  6. 

Genera,  endemic  in  eastern  North 
America,  list  of,  4. 

Genera,  endemic  in  Japan,  list  of,  4. 

Genera,  number  of  arborescent,  in  east- 
ern North  America,  4. 

Genera,  number  of  arborescent,  in  Ja- 
pan, 4. 

Geum  dryadoides,  10. 

Giukgo  biloba,  2. 

Gingko,  fruit  of,  76. 

Gingko,  the,  75. 

Gingko,  the,  in  temple  grounds  of  To- 
kyo, 76. 

Ginseng,  cultivation  of,  in  Japan  and 
Corea,  43. 

Ginseng,  the,  43. 

Gleditsia  Japonica,  35. 

Gleditsia  Japonica,  use  of  the  fruit  in 
Japan,  35. 

Grape,  the  wild,  in  the  forests  of 
Yezo,  7. 

Hakkoda,  Mount,  vegetation  of,  10. 
Hamamelis  arborescens,  42. 
Hamamelis  Japonica,  42. 
Hamamelis,  the  Japanese,  42. 
Kara,  the,  86. 


INDEX. 


91 


Helwingia  in  Japan,  43. 

Hemlock  forest  of  Hondo,  81. 

Hemlock  forest  of  Lake  Yuruoto,  plants 
in,'  7. 

Hemlock,  forests  of,  in  Japan,  6. 

Hemlocks,  distribution  of  in  Japan,  81. 

Hi-no-ki,  the,  73. 

Hollies,  the,  in  Japan  and  North  Amer- 
ica, 23. 

Honeysuckle  family,  the,  in  Japan,  48. 

Hop  Hornbeam,  distribution  of,  65. 

Horse-chestnut,  the  Japanese,  28. 

Horse-chestnut,  use  of  the  fruit  in  Ja- 
pan, 28. 

Hovenia  dulcis.  20. 

Hovenia  dulcis,  cultivated  as  a  fruit- 
tree  in  Japan,  26. 

Hovenia  dulcis,  cultivated  in  America 
and  Europe,  27. 

Hydrangea  pauiculata,  41. 

Hydrangea  petiolaris,  7. 

Hydrangeas,  climbing,  in  Japan,  7. 

Ilex  crenata,  10,  24. 

Ilex  crenata  in  Japanese  gardens,  24. 

Ilex  geniculata,  25. 

Ilex  integra,  23. 

Ilex  integra,  var.  leucoclada,  10,  23. 

Ilex  latifolia,  23. 

Ilex  macropoda,  25. 

Ilex  Monticola,  25. 

Ilex  pedunculosa,  24. 

Ilex  pedunculosa  in  Japanese  gardens, 
24. 

Ilex  rotunda,  20. 

Ilex  serrata,  25. 

Ilex  Sieboldii,  25. 

Ilex  Sieboldii  in  American  gardens, 
25. 

Ilex  Sieboldii,  used  for  decoration  in 
Japan,  25. 

Ilex  Sugeroki,  10,  24. 

Ilex  verticillata,  25. 

Illicium  anisatum,  12. 

Illicium  religiosum,  12. 

Illicium,  the  Japanese,  in  religious  fes- 
tivals, 12. 

Illicium  verum,  12. 

Ivy,  the,  in  Japan,  7,  43. 

Ivy,  the,  Poison,  34. 

Japan  as  a  producer  of  timber,  85. 

Japanese  Arbor-vitse,  72. 

Japanese  Cherry,  36. 

Japanese  and  North  American  forests, 
composition  of,  compared,  1. 

Japanese  Lacquer-tree,  33. 

Japanese  Plums  cultivated  in  the 
United  States,  38. 

Juglans  cordiformis,  60. 

Juglans  regia,  cultivated  in  Japan,  60. 

Juglans  Sieboldiana,  60. 

Juglans  Sieboldianas  in  American  gar- 
dens, 60. 

Junipers  in  Japan,  78. 

Juniperus  Chinensis,  78. 

Juniperus  Chinensis  at  Nagano,  78. 


Juniperus  Chinensis,  prostrate  form  of, 

78. 

Juniperus  conferta,  78. 
Juniperus  I'Moralis,  78. 
Juniperus  rigida,  78. 

Kadsura  Japouica,  12. 

Kaki,  the,  50. 

Kaki,  varieties  of,  50. 

Kaya-no-abura,  76. 

Kaya,  the,  76. 

Keaki,  the,  57. 

Kobus,  9. 

Kcelreuteria  paniculata,  1. 

Koya-maki,  77. 

Lacquer-tree,  Japanese,  33. 

Larix  Dahurica,  distribution  of,  84. 

Larix  Dahurica,  var.  Japonica,  84. 

Larix  Japonica,  83. 

Larix  Kurilensis,  84. 

Larix  leptolepsis,  83. 

Larix  leptolepsis  in  American  gardens, 

83. 

Larix  leptolepsis,  var.  Murrayana,  83. 
Larix  leptolepsis,  wood  of,  83. 
Lauracese  in  Japan,  54. 
Leguminosa?  in  Japan,  34. 
Leitneria,  4. 
Ligustruiu  Ibota,  53. 
Ligustrum  in  Japan,  52. 
Ligustrum  Japonicum,  53. 
Ligustrum  medium,  53. 
Lindera  Benzoin,  54. 
Lindera  glauca,  56. 
Lindera  in  eastern  Asia,  54. 
Lindera,  melisssefolia,  54. 
Lindera  obtiisiloba,  55. 
Lindera  pracox,  55. 
Lindera  sericea,  55. 
Lindera  strychnifolia,  2. 
Lindera  triloba,  55. 
Lindera  umbellata,  55. 
Liquidambar  Formosana,  1. 
Liquidambar  Maximowiczii,  1. 
Litsea  glauca,  14. 

Maachia  Amurensis,  34. 

Maachia  Amureusis,  wood  of,  34. 

Machilus  Thuiibergii,  54. 

Magnolia  compressa,  11. 

Magnolia  conspicua,  1. 

Magnolia  family,  the,  8. 

Magnolia  family,  the,  in  Japan  and 
Manchuria,  8. 

Magnolia  family,  the,  in  North  Amer- 
ica, 8. 

Magnolia  fuscata,  11. 

Magnolia  glauca,  var.  a,  9. 

Magnolia  hypoleuca,  8. 

Magnolia  hypoleuca  as  a  timber-tree,  9. 

Magnolia  hypolenca,  introduction  of, 
into  American  gardens,  9. 

Magnolia  Kobus,  9. 

Magnolia  Kobus,  introduction  of,  into 
American  gardens,  10. 

Magnolia  obovata,  2. 


Magnolia  parvifolia,  1. 
Magnolia  salicifolia,  10. 
Magnolia  stellata,  2. 
Magnolia  Thurberi,  10. 
Magnolia  lomentosa,  9. 
Magnolia  Watsoni,  1. 
Maples  in  Japan,  28. 
Maples,  Japanese,   in   American   gar- 
dens, 30. 

Marrons  of  Kobe,  70. 
Meliosma,  33. 
Meliosma  myriantha,  33. 
Michelia  compressa,  11. 
Michelia,  distinctive  characters  of,  11. 
Michelia  fuscata,  11. 
Mohrodendron  Carolinum,  51. 
Momi,  the,  82. 
Monkey-slide,  the,  18. 
Morns  alba,  59. 
Mountain  Ash,  38. 
Mulberry,  the  White,  59. 
Myrica  Gale,  61. 
Myrica  rubra,  61. 

Nandina  domestica,  2. 

Nara,   grove    of   Podocarpus   Nageia, 

at,  77. 

Negundo  in  Japan,  31. 
Nikko,  groves  and  avenues  of  Crypto- 

1 1 M TIII  Japouica  at,  74. 

Oaks,  evergreen,  in  Japan,  67. 

Olea  fragrans,  2. 

Olive  family,  the,  in  Japan,  52. 

Orixa  Japonica,  21. 

Osmanthus  Aqm'folium,  52. 

Osmanthus    Aquifolium   in    Japanese 

gardens,  52. 

Osmanthus  ilicifolium,  52. 
Ostrya  Japonica,  66. 
Ostrya,  the  distribution  of,  66. 
Ostrya  Virginica,  var.  Japonica,  66. 

Pauax  horrida,  7 
Panax  repens,  43. 
Panax  ricinifolia,  45. 
Paper  Mulberries  in  Japan  59. 
Paulownia  imperialis,  2. 
Pear-tree  of  Japan,  40. 
Pendulous  branched  Cherry-tree,  37 
Persimmon,  the,  in  Japan,  20. 
Phellodendron  Amurense,  21. 
Phyllodoce  taxifolia,  10. 
Picea  Ajanensis,  81. 
Picea  Ajanensis,  distribution  of,  81. 
Picea  Alcockiana,  80. 
Picea,  bicolor,  80,  81. 
Picea,  distribution  of  in  Japau,  6. 
Picea  Glenhi,  81. 
Picea  polita,  80. 
Picrasma  quassioides,  22. 
Pines,  Japanese,  in  American  gardens,  79. 
Pine,  the  Black,  79. 
Pine,  -the  Red,  79. 
Pine,  the  Umbrella,  77. 
Pine-wood,  nature  and  uses  of,  iu  Ja- 
pan, 79. 


92 


INDEX. 


Pine-woods,  planted  in  Japan,  70. 

Finns  desittora,  79. 

Pinus,  distribution  of,  in  Japan,  72. 

Pinus  Koraieusis,  2. 

Piiius  parviflora,  80. 

Finns  parviflora  in  American  gardens, 

80. 

Finns  pentaphylla,  80. 
Finns  pnmila,  80. 

Pinus  puiuila  on  Mount  Hakkoda,  10. 
Pinus,  scarcity  of  species  in  Japan,  6. 
Finns  Thunbergii,  79. 
Plantations   connected  with    Buddhist 

temples,  5. 

Plants,  climbing,  in  Japanese  forests,  7. 
Platycarya  strobilacea,  41. 
Plums,    Japanese,    cultivated    in    the 

United  States,  38. 
Plum-trees  in  eastern  North  America, 

38. 

Plum-trees  in  Japan,  38. 
Podocarpus,  distribution  of,  77. 
Podocarpus  macrophylla,  2,  77. 
Podocarpus  Nageia,  2,  77. 
Podocarpus   Nageia,  variegated   form 

in  Japanese  gardens,  77. 
Poison  Ivy,  the,  34. 
Poplar,  the  Balsam,  in  Japan,  71. 
Populns  in  Japan,  71. 
Populw  Sieboldii,  61. 
Popiilus  stiaveolens,  71. 
Populus  treinula,  var.  villosa,  71. 
Primus  Grayana,  38. 
Prunus  Japouica,  2. 
Primus  Maximowiczii,  37. 
Primus  Mume,  1,  36. 
Prunus  Mume  in  Corea,  36. 
Prunus  Padus,  38. 
Prunus  Pseudo-Cerasus,  36. 
Prunus  Pseudo-Cerasus,  wood  of,  37. 
Prunus  Ssiori,  38. 
Primus   Ssiori,  uses   of   the   wood   of, 

38. 

Prunus  tomentosa,  2. 
Prunus  triflora,  38. 
Fterocarya,  distribution  of,  61. 
Pterocavya  rhoifolia,  61. 
Pterocarya  rhoifolia,  wood  of,  61. 
Pterostyrax  corymbosum,  51. 
Pterostyrax  hispidum,  51. 
Pyrus  alnifolia,  57. 
Pyrus  aucuparia,  38. 
Pyrus  gracilis,  39. 
Pyrus  Halleana,  40. 
Pyrus  lanata,  39. 
Pyrus  Alalus  Jloribunda,  40. 
Pyrus  microcar/ia,  40. 
Pyrus  Miyabei,  40. 
Pyrus  Parkmani,  40. 
Pyrus  Rintjo,  40. 
Pyrus  sambucifolia,  38. 
Pyrus  Sieboldii,  40. 
Pyrus  Sinensis,  1,  40. 
Pyrus  Toringo,  40. 
Pyrus  Toringo  in  American  gardens, 

40. 
Pyrus  Tschonoskii,  40. 


Quercus  acuta,  69. 

Qiiercus  crispnla,  67. 

Quercus  cuspidata,  69. 

Quercus  Daimio,  67. 

Quercus  dentata,  67. 

Quercus  dentata,  var.  pinnatifida, 
67. 

Quercus  gilva,  69. 

Quercus  glabra,  69. 

Quercus  glandulifcra,  68. 

Quercus  glandulifera  in  American  gar- 
dens, 68. 

Quercus  glauca,  69. 

Quercus  grosseserrata,  67. 

Quercus  in  Japan,  67. 

Quercus  lacera,  69. 

Quercus  serrata,  68. 

Quercus  Thalassica,  69. 

Quercus  variabilis,  68. 

Quercus  Vibrayiana,  69. 

Red  Pine,  the,  79. 

Retinospora  obtusa,  73. 

Retinosporas,  monstrous   forms  of,  in 

Japan,  74. 
Rhamuaceje,  26. 
Rhododendron  arborescens,  49. 
Rhododendron  Catawbiense,  7,  49. 
Rhododendrons,   evergreen   in   Japan. 

49. 

Rhododendron  maximum,  49. 
Rhododendron  Metteruichii,  7. 
Rhododendron  nudicaule,  49. 
Rhododendron  Sinense,  49. 
Rhododendron  viscosum,  49. 
Rhodotj'pos  kerreoides,  2. 
Rhus    family,   the,   in    eastern    North 

America,  33. 

Rims  family,  in  Japan,  33. 
Rhus  semialata,  33. 
Rhus  succedanea,  34. 
Rhns  sylvestris,  34. 
Rhus  trichocarpa,  24. 
Rhus  vernicifera,  1,  33. 
Rice-paper,  Chinese,  43. 
Rose  family,  the,  in  Japan,  36. 
Rue  family,  the,  21. 

Sabiacese,  33. 
Salix  Babylonicu,  70. 
Salix  eriocarpa,  71. 
Salix  subfragilis,  71. 
Sapindacese,  28. 
Sapindus  Mukorosi,  1. 
Saru-suberi,  18. 
Sasan-kuwa,  17. 
Sawara,  the,  73. 
Saxifrage  family  in  Japan,  41. 
Schizandra,  8. 
Schizamlra  Chinensis.  13. 
Schizandra  nigra,  13. 
Schizophragma,  7. 
Sciadopytis  cultivated  in  Japan,  77. 
Sciadopytis,  the,  77. 
Sciadopytis,  the  wood  of,  77. 
Shrubs,    Chinese,    cultivated     in    Ja- 
pan, 2. 


Shrubs,  Corean,  cultivated  in  Japan,  2. 

Shrubs,  evergreen,  in  northern  Japan, 
23. 

Shrubs,  evergreen,  prevalence  of,  in 
Japan,  6. 

Shrubs,  number  of,  in  Japan.  3. 

Simarubie,  22. 

Skimmia  Japonica,  21. 

Sophora  Japouica,  1. 

Sorbus  alnifolia,  40. 

Sorbus  Aria,  var.  Kamaonensis,  39. 

Sorbus  lanata,  39. 

Spice-bush,  the.  54. 

Spikenard,  the  North  American,  44. 

Spirsea  Thunbergii,  2. 

Spruces  in  Japan,  80. 

Stachyurus  prsecox,  18. 

Stachyurus  prsecox  in  American  gar- 
dens, 18. 

Sterculia  platinifolia,  1. 

Stuartia  in  America,  18. 

Stuartia  monadelpha,  18. 

Stuartia  pentagyna,  18. 

Stuartia  Fseudo-Cainellia,  18. 

Stuartia  Pseudo-Camellia  in  American 
gardens,  18. 

Stuartia  serrata,  18. 

Stuartia  Virginica,  18. 

Styracere  in  Japan,  51. 

Styrax  Japouica,  52. 

Styrax  Obassia,  51. 

Sugi,  the,  74. 

Syringa  Japonica,  52. 

Syringa  Japonica  in  New  England  gar- 
dens, 52. 

I 
Taxus  euspidata,  76. 

Taxus  cuspidata  in  American  gardens. 
76. 

Taxns  cuspidata,  wood  of,  76. 

Taxus,  distribution  of,  76. 

Tea-plant,  the,  17. 

Teconia  grandiilora,  2. 

Temples,  Buddhist,  plantations  con- 
nected with,  5. 

Ternstro3iniaceie,  17. 

Ternstreemia  Japonica,  17. 

Thuja  Japonica,  72. 

Thuja  orientalis,  2. 

Tbayopsu  dolobrata,  72. 

Thuyopsis  dolobrata,  varieties  of,  72. 

Thuyopsis  Standishii,  72. 

Tilia  cordata,  var.  Japonica,  20. 

Tilia  heterophylla,  20. 

Tilia  Mandshurica,  20. 

Tilia  Miqueliana,  19. 

Tilia  ulmifolia,  var.  Japonica,  20. 

Tila  ulmifolia,  var.  Japonica,  in  Amer- 
can  gardens,  20. 

Torreya,  76. 

Toxyiou,  4. 

Trachycarpus  excelsa,  3,  84. 

Treeless  foothill  region,  86. 

Trees,  aggregation  of  species,  in  south- 
ern Indiana,  3. 

Trees,  aggregation  of  species  in  Ja- 
pan, 3. 


INDtiX. 


93 


Trees,   American,  list  of,  absent  from 

the  forests  of  Japan,  5. 
Trees,  Chinese,  cultivated  in  Japan,  1. 
Trees,  Corean,  cultivated  in  Japan,  1. 
Trees,  Japanese,  list  of,    absent  from 

the  forests  of  eastern  North  Amer- 
ica, 6. 
Trees,  list  of,  on  hills  near  Sapporo, 

3. 

Trochodendracese,  13. 
Trochodendron  aralioides,  15. 
Tsubaki,  17. 

Tsuga  diversifolia,  7,  81. 
Tsuga  diversifolia,  northern  station  of, 

10. 

Tsuga  Tsuga,  81. 
Tsuga    Tsuga   in   American    gardens, 

82. 

Tumion,  distribution  of,  76. 
Tumion  nuciferum,  76. 
Tumion  nuciferum,  fruit  of,  76. 
Tumion  nuciferum,  wood  of,  76. 
Types  of   vegetation  common   to   the 

floras  of  eastern  North  America  and 

Japan,  5. 


Ulmus  campestris,  57. 

Ulmus  parvifolia,  2. 

Ulmus  scabra,  laciniata,  17. 

Umbrella  Pine,  the,  77. 

Undergrowth  of  the  forests  of  eastern 
North  America  and  Japan  contrast- 
ed, 7. 

Vacciniiim  ciliatum,  49. 

Vaccinium  in  Japan,  49. 

Vacciniiim  Japonicum,  49. 

Vegetation,  features  of,  in  eastern 
North  America  and  Japan  com- 
pared, 4. 

Vegetation  of  Mount  Hakkoda,  10. 

Vegetation,  types  of,  common  to  the 
floras  of  eastern  North  America  and 
Japan,  5. 

Viburnum  furcatum,  48. 

Viburnum  Wrightii,  49. 

Vitis  Coignetiffi,  46. 

Walnuts  as  food  in  Japan,  60. 

Walnuts,  English,  60. 

Walnut  family,  the,  in  Japan,  60. 


White  Birch,  the,  61. 

Wikstrcemia  Japonica,  2. 

Willows,  arborescent,  abundance  of,  in 
Japan,  7. 

Willows  in  Japan,  70. 

Willow,  the  Weeping,  planted  in  To- 
kyo, 70. 

Wistaria  in  Japan,  7., 

Witch  Hazel  family  in  Japan,  41. 

Xanthoxylum  ailanthoides,  21. 
Xanthoxylum  in  Japan,  21. 
Xanthoxylum  piperitum,  21. 
Xanthoxylum  piperitum,   uses  of   the 
fruit  in  Japan,  21. 

Yezo,  forests  of,  87. 

Zelkova,  distribution  of,  58. 
Zelkova  Keaki,  57. 
Zelkova  Keaki  in  Rhode  Island,  58. 
Zelkova  Keaki,  wood  of,  38. 
Zizyphns  vulgaris,  1. 
Zizyphus  vnlgaris,  cultivated  as  a  fruit- 
tree  in  Japan,  2, 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LA.NDSGAP:     •  -j. IE  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


DEC  1  9  1958 


AUG  I  7  1959 


LD  21-100m-6,'56 
(B9311slO)476 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


I 


